09 Jun 2017
As electricity prices continue to rise, businesses across Australia are becoming more conscious of their running costs. Because of this, the uptake of battery storage systems in Australia is expected to grow into a billion-dollar-a-year market by 2020.
While a 2015 CSIRO study has confirmed up to one-third of all consumers are considering going off-grid in the near future, has your business considered investing in a battery storage system?
In this blog we’ll explore the benefits of investing in a solar battery for your business, and what other options you have available.
Benefits of Batteries for Business
Use More of Your Solar Generation
Without a commercial solar battery, your business is forced to export any clear, free solar energy it generates but does not use into the grid. While some businesses are lucky enough to receive a very small feed-in tariff for their exported electricity, many business do not.
Rather than exporting and losing your excess solar energy for just a few cents or worse, nothing at all, a battery bank will allow you to store this energy and use it later.
This effectively reduces the amount of electricity you buy from the grid, increasing the return on your solar investment.
Load Shifting
Load levelling, also known as load shifting, involves storing solar energy during periods of light load, and then consuming it during periods of high demand.
By using your own solar electricity, your business is reducing the load on your state’s less economical electricity generating facilities, which usually kick in during times of high demand.
By contributing to the longer life of local infrastructure and resources, you’re effectively lessening the need for costly network upgrades, which end up being paid for by all grid users.
Peak Shaving
Similar to load levelling, peak shaving helps business reduce their peak demand for financial benefit, rather than for economy of operation.
By charging the battery bank at off-peak rates and using your own stored energy at peak rates, you’ll limit the amount of electricity your business has to pay for at peak demand charges.
Businesses who take advantage of peak shaving generally experience electricity bill savings of between 10% and 30% on their former annual spend.
Emergency backup
Blackouts can cause thousands of dollars in damages and/or lost productivity for any business, especially for those dealing with perishable items like food and other produce, or highly sensitive material.
By investing in a battery bank you can protect your business from the inconvenience of outages, and feel confident that you’ll always have access to electricity, regardless of what’s happening on the grid.
Virtual Energy Storage
Virtual Energy Storage Systems (VESS) are an innovative solution which negates the need for on-site battery storage. Your solar and/or battery provider can store your business’s excess solar production, and have it ready to be utilised at another time.
Just like a physical battery, VESS reduces the number of units of electricity that need to be purchased from the grid and enables 100% of the solar production to be consumed on site. Unlike, physical commercial battery technologies, virtual storage does not require large upfront costs, making them more financially viable for many businesses.
Are Solar Batteries Right for Your Business?
Your business’s financial situation and electricity consumption profile will decide if you’re suitable to be an early adopter of a commercial battery system.
If you’re not ready to take on batteries just yet, commercial solar is a great place to start, bringing instant financial returns and much shorter payback periods.
To learn more about the viability of solar and/or batteries for your business, you can request three no obligation proposals by clicking here.
