Battery storage cuts the most expensive line on your electricity bill — demand charges — keeps critical operations running through outages, and lets you use clean energy after dark.
Solar reduces how much energy you buy. Storage controls when you buy it and protects you when the grid fails. For most C&I customers, storage is where the biggest dollars hide.
Demand charges — the fee you pay based on your single highest 15-minute usage window of the month — can account for 30–70% of a commercial bill. Batteries discharge during peaks to flatten demand and the savings can be enormous.
When the utility goes down, batteries keep your critical loads running. For hospitals, refrigerated warehouses, manufacturing, and data centers, this is no longer a nice-to-have.
On time-of-use rate plans, batteries charge when electricity is cheap and discharge when it’s expensive. The price spread funds the savings.
Pair storage with solar and you’re using your own clean energy in the evening, on cloudy mornings, and any time the panels aren’t producing. Self-consumption goes up; grid dependence goes down.
In some markets, batteries can earn revenue by providing services back to the grid — capacity, frequency regulation, demand response. We’ll tell you what’s available in your utility territory.
The Inflation Reduction Act extended the federal Investment Tax Credit to standalone storage. You no longer need to pair it with solar to claim the credit.
Storage works on its own to cut demand charges. Add solar and controls to make it a microgrid.
Pairs naturally with storage to time-shift production.
You are here. Cuts demand charges, stores solar, rides through outages.
The brain that turns solar + storage into a microgrid.
Optional backstop for multi-day resilience.
Demand charges are billed on the highest 15-minute spike in a month. Flatten the spike, lower the bill.
Storage sizing is more nuanced than solar — the right answer depends on your usage shape, rate structure, and what you’re trying to accomplish.
We pull your interval data from the utility (15-minute reads) and analyze when and how you actually use power. The shape of your demand curve determines the size and dispatch strategy of the battery.
Battery capacity (kWh) determines how long it runs. Battery power (kW) determines how hard it can shave a peak. We size both to your specific savings and resilience goals — not a marketing brochure.
Batteries integrate with your existing electrical system, any new solar, and the utility meter. For backup applications, we add the switchgear required to safely island your critical loads.
Modern batteries are software-defined. Controls automatically dispatch the battery for demand reduction, time-of-use arbitrage, solar self-consumption, or backup, based on the dispatch strategy that maximizes your value.
We monitor performance, adjust dispatch logic as your usage or rates change, and handle warranty and service for the life of the system.
Different facilities get different value from storage. Here are the patterns we see most often.
Production downtime is expensive. Storage handles short outages without missing a beat and cuts demand charges that often run six figures per year.
Life-safety loads must keep running. Storage provides instant backup — cleaner and faster than diesel — and reduces fuel storage and air-quality compliance burden.
Schools are increasingly designated community shelters during emergencies. Solar plus storage keeps the lights, HVAC, and communications running for days.
Continuous, conditioned power is the entire value proposition. Lithium storage is replacing aging UPS systems and reducing both footprint and operating cost.
An hour of lost cooling can wipe out a million dollars of inventory. Storage protects perishables and shaves the demand peaks that come with compressor cycling.
DC fast charging creates massive demand spikes. Batteries smooth the spikes so you don’t pay demand charges or upsize your utility service.
Storage economics are driven by three things: tax credits, demand-charge savings, and (in some markets) grid services revenue.
The Inflation Reduction Act extended the Investment Tax Credit to standalone storage. Bonus credits available for projects in energy communities, low-income areas, or using domestic content.
For most C&I customers, this is the largest single savings line. Batteries discharge during the few critical minutes that set your monthly demand charge, often cutting it 30–60%.
On time-of-use rates, charge cheap, discharge expensive. In some utility territories, batteries can also enroll in capacity or demand-response programs for additional revenue.
No. Standalone storage is its own asset class and now qualifies for the full federal Investment Tax Credit. Solar plus storage is often the strongest combination, but for sites with high demand charges, even storage alone can deliver excellent ROI.
Modern LFP chemistry (lithium iron phosphate, more thermally stable than the NMC chemistry used in EVs) is warranted for 10–15 years and typically operates productively for 15–20 years. Capacity gradually declines (similar to a phone battery) but in a predictable, modeled way that’s factored into the financial pro forma.
Yes — with the right chemistry and the right design. We use LFP chemistry, which is significantly more thermally stable than the NMC chemistry in EVs. All systems comply with NFPA 855, UL 9540, and local fire codes. Siting and ventilation are engineered with safety as the top constraint.
It depends on which loads you want to keep running and for how long. A whole-facility, multi-day backup is rarely cost-effective — but selectively backing up critical loads (refrigeration, life safety, IT, key production lines) for 4–24 hours usually is. We help you decide where the line is.
Often, yes. Retrofit complexity depends on the age and design of the existing solar inverters and switchgear. AC-coupled storage is generally easier to retrofit; DC-coupled storage is more efficient but usually requires inverter changes. We assess on a case-by-case basis.
Battery equipment lead times have come down substantially from the 2022–2023 peak but still run 4–9 months for utility-scale systems. We start the equipment procurement process as soon as a project moves to engineering so the battery arrives ready for installation.
Send us your interval data and we’ll show you exactly what storage would save and what it would protect.
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