5 criteria for the integration of economic commercial battery storage

The most important thing about encentive commercial battery storage

• commercial battery storage Are battery storage systems (BESS) for companies that store electricity and postpone it over time — e.g. for Peak Shaving, PV self-consumption and Optimizing electricity costs.
• Distinction: Behind the Meter (BTM) (behind the meter, focus on location optimisation) vs. Front of the Meter (FTM) (in front of the meter, focus on network services & trade).
• Typical deployment options for BTM commercial battery storage: Load peak capping/peak shaving (reduce service prices/network charges), Increase PV self-consumption (PV storage), Spot price optimisation via dynamic electricity tariffs, load management (quasi-expansion of the network connection) and, if applicable Emergency power/UPS.
• The potential of intelligent load management can only be achieved with energy management. Relevant for profitability/ROI: Appropriate tariff, correct sizing with vision, software intelligence in the form of an EMS that goes beyond battery management.
• In addition to the storage capacity (specified in kWh or MWh), the charging speed/power is also relevant. It decides what load the memory can deliver. The corresponding key figure: The C-rate.

Commercial battery storage (BESS) in companies: Cut load peaks, increase PV self-consumption and optimize energy costs

In times of volatile energy markets, strongly fluctuating electricity prices, rising grid charges and a rapid expansion of renewable energies (with limitations due to grid infrastructure), industrial and commercial companies face massive challenges. Energy is It's no longer just a procurement post, which is renegotiated once a year, but a strategic competitive factor. In this context, a technology is increasingly taking center stage: commercial battery storage, often referred to as a battery energy storage system (BESS) is called.

Commercial battery storage can be the key to several goals for companies. From cost savings to smooth production, there are many possible applications. When used in a balanced manner, a battery-electric industrial storage system acts as the heart of a modern, flexible energy system. An industrial energy storage system lowers electricity costs active, reduces service prices about peak shaving, increases PV self-consumption significant and makes completely new, flexible operating methods possible in combination with dynamic electricity tariffs such as in day-ahead procurement (or even intraday). This allows you to benefit from day one after installation and setup.

In this comprehensive article, we explain the most important concepts, acquisition options, integration and practical use cases. We show how your company can benefit from commercial energy storage — with specific examples and added value for you as a decision maker.

What is commercial battery storage (BESS) and what does Behind the Meter mean? — BTM vs. FTM

Battery storage in industry is essentially a system that shifts electrical energy over time: It charges electricity when the energy is available cheaply or in excess (for example through its own PV system or in the case of many renewables in the grid). It discharges electricity when it is expensive to buy from the grid, when there is a threat of peak loads or grid bottlenecks, or when other processes in the company require sufficient energy.

The advantages of battery storage systems here: the speed and the ability to provide even large loads in a short period of time. In this way, even large consumers in companies can be supplied with electricity from commercial battery storage.

For a closer look at the usage, it is crucial that where The memory is installed where its connection is located. There are two different set-ups here:

• Behind the Meter (BTM): The storage is located at companies behind the electricity meter, i.e. on the customer's side (the company premises). The focus here is on optimizing the location. Various applications are conceivable: peak shaving (peak load capping of battery storage), reducing power prices and grid charges, increasing PV self-consumption and ensuring operational safety. Optimizing for market prices by procuring electricity at favourable periods of time is also a classic application. You can find out more about the individual use cases below.
• Front of the Meter (FTM): The memory is with the meter, connected directly to the public power grid. Here, the focus is on network services (such as primary control power), energy trading on Spot market (arbitrage) and large-scale engineering projects, often operated by energy suppliers or project developers.

In this article, we are deliberately focusing on Behind the meter (BTM) commercial battery storage as part of industrial processes and corresponding requirements. Here, profitability results directly from interaction with ongoing core production operations, ancillary processes, load profile, electricity tariff and local generation.

The way to the right battery storage system in business

The procurement and integration of a industrial battery storage requires targeted planning. In principle, the size and design of the battery must be adapted exactly to the planned use (such as peak shaving or PV self-consumption, multi-use is also possible) and the respective location.

In addition, hardware alone is not enough. Storage is not a “set-and-forget” product — it is only with the integration of an intelligent energy management system (EMS), which continuously controls and optimizes operation, that payback becomes interesting for significantly more companies. We learn this from the battery simulations we carry out for customers.

The aim is to design the size and performance of the battery storage system

• Size is defined by the storage capacity marked and expressed in kWh and MWh. It defines how much electricity can be stored in the system.
• In addition, there is the charging capacity as an important figure that indicates the load that the battery can absorb and deliver. The amount of electricity produced per unit of time is given in kW, MW or even GWh and is relevant in interpretation because corresponding consumers in the company have certain electricity requirements. If these are to be covered (in total), the memory must be able to provide the appropriate charging power.
• Die C rate describes the relationship between storage capacity and charging capacity. It indicates how quickly the memory can be fully charged, in relation to the course of an hour. A charge rate C of 1 means that the memory can be fully charged and discharged in one hour. A C rate of 2 means that the memory can be unloaded or loaded twice in one hour, or the entire charge can be fully loaded in half an hour. The charging capacity is therefore higher in relation to the storage capacity. Many current memories offer a charge rate of 1 or higher.

Cost structure: How much does a battery storage system cost for companies?

The investment in industrial battery storage consists of several blocks:

• Investment costs (CapEx): These include battery cells (formerly mostly lithium-ion, increasingly LiFePO4, i.e. lithium iron phosphate), inverters, the switchgear, containers/housings, air-conditioning technology as well as installation and grid connection costs.
• Operating costs (OpEx): Maintenance, service contracts, insurance and software fees (EMS). In addition, degradation (the gradual loss of capacity over years) must be taken into account commercially.

According to the market overview, the pure prices for energy storage systems amount to PV magazine to around 200 to 430 euros per kWh storage capacity, trend falling). The iron phosphate (LiFePO4) storage tanks, which gain market share, are another step away from the material side cheaper producible.

While and because the prices for battery cells have fallen sharply in recent years, the so-called “Soft costs” (engineering, network integration, fire protection, software) account for an ever larger proportion of total costs. For companies, this means that the success of the project does not depend on finding the cheapest battery cell, but on optimally integrating the system into the operational infrastructure. A tailored needs analysis, identification of savings potential and the right energy management system are essential.

The most important use cases for industrial energy storage

A commercial battery storage system shows its strengths in various scenarios. The choice of use case determines the sizing and operating strategy.

1. Peak shaving: peak load capping with battery storage

The containment of load peaks, too”Peak load capping“is the classic and usually a profitable use case. During peak shaving, the memory specifically reduces short-term, high peak load peaks in power consumption. For example, when heavy machinery, refrigeration systems, cold stores, e-truck chargers or compressors start at the same time, the battery storage system steps in and supplies the required energy instead of pulling it off the grid.

This smooths out the 15-minute power average, which is relevant for billing with the energy supplier. Avoiding load peaks is usually financially rewarded by network operators, especially in the high-load time windows, which are set individually for summer and winter.

2. Optimize your own PV consumption: PV storage industry

Depending on the orientation and load during operation, a large photovoltaic system on the roof of the building often produces more electricity at noon than industrial processes consume in the same period of time. The feed-in tariff is low (or there are even negative prices), while buying electricity at typical demand periods, for example in the evening or early in the morning hours, is expensive.

A commercial battery storage system can absorb this PV power and Postpone this cheap solar power to low-solar consumption times. The result: The network connection in expensive hours falls massively, independence increases and the company secures itself against fluctuating electricity price developments in the long term. This is also possible with our own wind turbines or other production facilities.

3. Spot price optimisation and dynamic electricity tariffs

With the increasing volatility On the energy market (lots of wind and solar = low or even negative stock market electricity prices; dark lumps = price burdens due to expensive replacement power plants such as gas or, in the long term, green hydrogen), dynamic electricity tariffs for commercial customers are becoming increasingly widespread. Many of our customer partners are finding out how to take advantage of this volatility. To do this, we simulate electricity purchase based on Day-ahead market (and in perspective intraday market), or are already making it possible to purchase energy more flexibly.

A battery storage system makes it possible to strengthen this lever even more. After taking storage and storage losses into account, we see payback periods of sometimes just seven years in our intelligent plant control systems. Periods of 4 years are also mentioned in literature. You can reach this attractive range with a multi-use optimised commercial battery storage system. We would be happy to assist you with a tailored potential analysis. To do so, your neighbors are welcome to write to us via contact form.

It is also becoming increasingly attractive to obtain electricity from the grid at the appropriate times due to extremely falling storage prices (described in more detail above). In combination, you can use this electricity when the prices on the market are comparatively high. This intelligent control of the entire system is a growing market for commercial battery storage due to its financial opportunities.

4. Quasi-expansion of the grid connection point through load management

A use case that currently reaches us particularly frequently: Many companies are growing, installing a large fleet of e-charging stations (charging infrastructure, including trucks), electrifying their process heat (heat pumps) or require additional cooling capacity. Without smart control, the distribution system operator's existing grid connection capacity is often insufficient for this. Network expansion (new transformer, new lines) often takes years and causes immense construction subsidies. A solution is needed that works much faster.

Here, the memory acts as balance sheet increase in grid connection capacity through intelligent load management. The storage system acts as a buffer: It charges when the operating load is otherwise low and, when power requirements are high (e.g. when all trucks are charging at the same time), it makes the missing capacity available locally — a “quasi-expansion” of the network connection point, without extensive adjustments to the company's infrastructure.

5. Emergency power/ UPS (uninterruptible power supply)

For companies with highly sensitive processes (food industry, data centers, continuous manufacturing), a power outage can be extremely expensive and mean loss of reputation and lost orders. Not every commercial battery storage system is automatically capable of emergency power. However, if the system is designed accordingly (stand-alone operation capability), the memory can seamlessly take over in the event of a power failure and supply critical consumers to prevent production downtime and machine damage.

You can already consider a so-called black start ability when purchasing.

BMS vs. EMS: The brain decides on the ROI

Whether an investment in an industrial battery storage system is a success depends heavily on the depth of integration into consumption, generation and power purchase processes. A decisive difference here lies in the Type of control: A simple controller loads and unloads the storage system stubbornly according to rigid, predefined thresholds — without regard to dynamic electricity prices, weather forecasts or current operating conditions. This can be referred to as single-use optimisation.

An intelligent controller, on the other hand, uses real-time data, algorithms and market forecasts to proactively and flexibly adapt storage operations to the company's entire energy ecosystem. This is the only way to implement complex use cases such as spot price optimisation and real cost benefits. On this Multi-use optimisation Let's talk in the following paragraph.

There are often two acronyms in battery technology, which must be strictly separated from each other:

• Battery Management System (BMS): The BMS is integrated directly into the hardware. It protects cells from overheating, deep discharge or overcharging and offers the functionality that individual weak cells have less effect on the overall performance of the memory. The BMS ensures the internal homogeneous workload and battery safety.
• Energy Management System (EMS): EMS is the higher-level software. It makes economic decisions. EMS knows how expensive electricity is right now and in the near future, how much the PV system will produce in the next few hours and when expensive peak loads are imminent. The EMS ensures the economic efficiency of operation. In our EMS comparative contribution Find various software options and find out how flexOn from encentive fits into intelligent industrial control. Multi-use optimisation, including commercial battery storage, is one of the areas in which flexOn is already convincing many customers.

Algorithms and AI needed: Battery storage in multi-use optimisation

Smart, automated control of your own industrial processes becomes a success factor when all relevant consumers are involved. This is when multi-use optimisation takes effect. This combines the flexibility of various assets, from cold stores to core processes such as production lines, fermentation tanks to charging infrastructure and battery storage.

This combination creates a truly intelligent interplay of processes and thus offers more cost-saving potential. Your potential optimisation potential play just as important a role in addition to assets. From peak shaving (load peak capping), PV self-consumption optimisation, compliance with high-load time windows, to market price optimisation and reaching regulatory thresholds for electricity purchase, which mean reductions.

With a customer-specific potential analysis and subsequent efficient asset timetables, the multi-use strategy achieves the fastest possible payback period for industrial commercial battery storage systems.

The challenge here: This Objectives may conflict. If the storage system is charged with cheap grid power in the morning to avoid price spikes, there may be no space to absorb the excess PV power at noon. If the memory is unloaded for self-consumption in the evening, there may be no capacity to absorb an unexpected load peak during shift work at night.

Solving these conflicting goals in real time requires complex algorithms and AI-based optimisation.

Why a battery storage system only provides added value with the right control system (The encentive approach)

At this point, a truth of the energy industry becomes clear: Simply investing in hardware — be it battery cells with even the highest C rates, capacities or integrated BMS — is not enough to exploit the enormous potential of commercial battery storage. Viewed in isolation, a battery storage system is just a simple electron parking lot, which also has losses when stored and removed. Industrial storage systems Only through optimisation and intelligent appropriate control do real economic added value.

It is precisely this crucial intelligence that can be encentive come. With our innovative flexOn energy management software, we bring “AI in the engine room” to your company. We don't see your storage as an isolated island, but integrate it deeply into the energy ecosystem of your company.

We set up the software in the context of Multi-use optimisations tailored to your respective industrial complex. Our system processes weather forecasts for PV generation, historical consumption data, live production values, shut-off times, quality-critical production processes and current price signals from the power exchange. Based on this, encentive software decides whether it is more lucrative to load or unload the memory or reserve reserves for an impending load peak.

Especially with challenging scenarios such as the one mentioned balance sheet increase in grid connection capacity through intelligent load management Our system is developing its full strength.

And not through a one-time set-and-forget. We have a continuous detailed view of the processes in your industrial park. For example, we talk to you about further optimisation potential, carry out potential analyses or simulate further steps such as market price optimisation or battery storage.

Our customer case of Klingele With 30% savings in maximum load level, shows in concrete terms what benefits are possible with battery control.

As your company grows, encentive control prevents you from being punished by expensive load overruns or having to slow down growth due to a weak grid connection.

A battery storage system for companies is a powerful tool. The intelligent optimisation and control of encentive turns this tool into a highly profitable, fully automated system that sustainably reduces your energy costs and makes your company future-proof.

Talk to us! With flexOn, we not only offer you intelligent load management including the smart use of industrial battery storage systems. With a great deal of expertise, we can also present the procurement of commercial batteries by our partners. About the contact form or book an appointment directly, we will be there for your concerns very promptly!

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