Commercial Battery Storage

For many businesses, the strive towards net zero is often accompanied by a desire to be more grid independent and to be protected against ever increasing and fluctuating energy prices. Renewable generation forms part of the solution; however, the inclusion of battery storage allows a business to use more of their generated energy within their site, making them more grid independent.

Charging from Excess Generation

Typically, the main function for batteries installed within the commercial and industrial sector is to store excess generation from an on-site solar or wind asset. Many businesses cannot have full control over when they use electricity, and renewable energy is only generated when the sun shines or the wind blows.

The times when a business requires electricity and the times when energy is being generated often don’t align perfectly meaning that a site could be generating more electricity than required. During these times of high generation, the excess generation would be exported to the grid. This is where battery storage comes in…

A battery storage system will charge from the excess generation, until full, and when the site’s electricity demand exceeds the generation, the battery storage system will discharge to meet the site’s demand. The battery storage system and the renewable generation asset will continually work together to balance the electricity delivered to a site and minimise as far as possible the grid electricity import and export.

Benefits of a Battery Storage System

Whilst the main benefit of battery storage is often attributed to storing excess generation, there are further advantages which might help tip the scale in the right direction and make a battery storage solution commercially viable.

Off-peak Charging

If a site has a tariff which is split between day and night rates (or peak and off-peak rates) then the battery storage system can charge overnight via the cheaper tariff and discharge during the day to offset the more expensive peak grid electricity import.

Load Shifting

An electricity management technique used to avoid times of high grid electricity costs. This can be off-peak charging, or a battery can be programmed to discharge at the times when grid electric import is most expensive, for example during red band DUoS charges.

Peak Shaving

The avoidance of peak demand charges or exceeding a site’s agreed supply capacity by discharging the battery to reduce the required power drawn from the national grid.

Backup Power

Critical circuits can be backed up, so that in the instance of a power cut, these circuits will still operate as normal. This can prevent downtime and any operational losses associated with this.

Grid Services

Further revenue streams are available by participating in additional markets. These include, but are not limited to: Capacity Market, Demand Flexibility Service, Frequency Response and Constraint Management

Increased Grid Resilience

Implementing a battery storage system alongside a renewable generation asset allows more of the generated energy to be consumed on-site. In turn this reduces the volume of grid import, meaning that the site is more protected to any changes in the electricity market.

Technologies Available

Lithium-ion is bar far the most widely used technology within a commercial battery storage system; however alternative battery storage technologies include Vanadium Flow or Flywheel.

Lithium Ion

Lithium Ion is the most widely used rechargeable battery technology and is used to power our day-to-day devices such as mobile phones and electric vehicles.

Advantage – A high energy density, can be continually discharged with little degradation, and the losses whilst sat idle are minimal compared to other battery chemistries.

Drawback – Requires mining of materials and can pose environmental risks if not recycled properly.

Vanadium Flow

VFB is a rechargeable flow battery which uses a liquid electrolyte stored in tanks.

Advantage – Non-flammable, recyclable, and long operation lifespan.

Drawback – Low energy density, meaning that they require a greater footprint to be installed.

Flywheel

A shaft-mounted disc spins, storing kinetic energy, and when discharging, the kinetic energy is converted back into electrical energy.

Advantage – Very high charge and discharge rates, perfect for peak shaving. The performance is not impacted by temperature, and it is manufactured from widely available materials.

Drawback – Not yet commercially available.

How to Choose Your Battery Storage Solution

Within the battery storage market there are many different manufacturers, available technologies, and varying functionalities. Therefore, it is important to select a battery storage solution for your business that is fit for purpose.

Before selecting a battery storage solution, the most important aspects to understand are your business’ electricity profile, peak demand, annual consumption, and volume of excess renewable generation so that a suitable storage capacity and maximum charge and discharge rate can be specified.

Whilst this might sound like a daunting task, Ennovus Solutions have bespoke models and industry standard software to help easily quantify these metrics.

When choosing a battery, it is also important to consider the monitoring, cost, lifespan, warranty, safety, installation requirements, and sustainability.

Our team are experienced across the battery storage market, from delivering small scale domestic battery storage systems to specifying large scale commercial units.

Please get in touch to see how we can help integrate battery storage into your energy solutions.

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