Reduce expensive demand charges with solar + batteries

While we tend to think of solar and battery storage as an emergency backup solution, the reality is that battery storage combined with solar offers a strong incentive for the unique power needs of businesses.

For businesses, solar electricity makes sense because it provides reliable electricity locked in a rate lower than the utility company. However, for many businesses the bulk of the electric bill is structured around demand charges (paying for a certain amount of grid capacity to be available during energy spikes) vs. volumetric charges (paying for the actual kilowatt-hours of electricity needed to power the business).

Solar electricity does a great job of reducing volumetric charges, and when there is coincident load (heavy power use during the day) it can have an impact on demand charges as well. However, this impact is significantly enhanced by the addition of batteries, which allow stored solar to offset power use during the ‘shoulder’ periods of the day — mornings and evenings — when the sun has gone down but power use is still typically high.

You activate a large electric load, and your battery storage (and solar if you have it) reduces the electric spike. You pay less of a demand charge because you have ‘shaved’ the load that is needed from the grid.

Combining the power of the sun and batteries allows your business to save money and significantly reduce its carbon footprint. With this incentive program, a battery system is modeled to have a simple payback in under 7 years!