COMMERCIAL BATTERY STORAGE – SELF CONSUMPTION OPTIMISATION
Prohibitive initially in the UK due mainly to its cost and product lifespan concerns, lithium ion commercial battery storage technology has developed at a frenetic pace during the course of just a few years. Its evolvement and development speed – driven mainly by the ‘electric vehicle revolution’ with global manufacturing powerhouses such as BMW, Mercedes, VW, Audi, JCB and even Rolls Royce poised to be at the forefront of this technology.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
SA & DE DIXON LTD
100KW SOLAR PV ARRAY WITH SMA 70KW COMMERCIAL BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM. OSWESTRY SHROPSHIRE
Like everything in life new technologies will always be expensive to begin with, until they become mainstream and more suppliers enter the marketplace driving down costs to compete with one another.
The same can be said with lithium ion battery products, no longer out of reach to mainstream clients and their longevity and lifespan now reinforced with longer stable warranty reassurances from manufacturers.
However from our experience selecting the right product is critical, and this is a still very much an area to tread carefully for risk of having your fingers well and truly burnt.
Indeed we at Solar PV Battery Systems have over the year’s fallen victim ourselves to some of the less desirable products and manufacturers whilst cutting our teeth with this technology, so are very well placed in offering you are clients the best possible advice in product choice and suitable applications.
HOW DOES BATTERY STORAGE WORK?
Battery storage integrated as part of solar PV system is now fast becoming the standard route for any new installation and also in most cases be simply retrofitted to many existing older installations.
Basic operation of a battery storage system
Standard solar PV systems work effectively and can contribute a great proportion of a sites energy demands provided they are designed and sized correctly, however during peak generation periods (particularly through the summer months) standard PV systems will ‘over generate’ a term used when the generation of the Solar PV system is exceeding the electricity demand at the site.
This results in the inverters shifting the excess power back into to the grid network and is known as ‘exported power’
Whilst this might sound like good news for those being paid by energy companies for exported energy, often the rewards are low compared to the price paid per Kwhr for imported energy.
In fact this is akin to a poor stock market broker who ‘buys high and sells low’ This situation can be avoided by the deployment of a lithium ion battery storage acting as a reservoir for you to store your self-generated power.
Battery storage systems use current transformers (CT’s) fitted at the point of connection (close to your incoming supply meter point) in order to detect reverse exported power occurring – within milliseconds of its presence detected this power instead of feeding back into the National grid is captured and diverted into your battery bank for future distribution.
This sequence is repeated continually through the day to charge your batteries, or discharge when excess power is required to cover your sites consumption (the reverse of the above scenario)
At night time or during days of unseasonable weather rain etc the reservoir of stored power in your batteries will discharge to compensate the temporary lack of generation from your Solar PV system. As soon as morning arrives and daylight begins your system will start to charge your battery bank again.
PEAK DEMAND CHARGES
The main purpose of a battery storage system is to enable the end user to harvest or capture the free electricity produced by the Solar PV system for use in periods where either no generation is available (night-time) or to be available for discharge during peak charging periods (otherwise known as ‘Peak Demand Charges’ which can found within your electricity bill.
These charges are a very expensive element to any business customers charging structure, whereby utility companies penalise end users for the power consumed during peak periods of the day (generally 4pm until 8pm) significant savings are made by counteracting these charges by battery storage systems being able to discharge during these periods resulting in significantly lower bills.
PEAK LOAD SHAVING
Another expensive element to business customer’s energy bills, are when they exceed their sites agreed peak load capacity (kva) resulting often in extortionate additional penalty charges. The deployment of one our advanced battery storage systems can act as a ‘sleeping policeman’ ensuring discharge from the energy storage reservoir during this scenario thereby eliminating the risk of incurring or heavily reducing these costs.
In simple terms the system will store your self-generated electricity and is programmed to intelligently discharge from the battery bank during these periods keeping your site within agreed threshold limits.
TARGETTED CHARGING REVIEW BENEFITS FROM SOLAR PV & BATTERY STORAGE
Set to be launched by the end of spring 2022 the targeted charging review will be bad news for many, with commercial users of power being categorised into a banding mechanism based on their sites consumption levels.
One of the big changes set to be introduced is whereby before larger users of power obtained electricity at cheaper rates previously (due to higher volumes of consumption) the exact opposite is set to be introduced resulting into larger sites paying significantly more than smaller sites by being hit with revised transmission charges.
One way to help offset this scenario and potentially drop to a lower charging band, is to install a new or indeed an additional Solar PV array with battery storage.
Your system will then act as a ‘buffer store’ maintaining your site within its banding restriction and limits, which of course will again result in significant charges being avoided.
Of course the best part of owning and operating your own battery storage system is the feel good factor and satisfaction felt when seeing your import meter idle, or the units being clocked up dramatically reduced – significantly lowering your energy costs courtesy of your self-generated power station.
Many UK businesses are now already reaping the rewards and benefits from installing solar power with integrated battery storage, and are quickly realising just what a great technology it is and what a significant impact it can have in reducing their annual energy spend.
Our team of design engineers and technicians will guide you through the process, design and apply on your behalf in the greatest detail, a system conforming to the approval of the National grid and bespoke to your company’s requirements. Call our team today on 03330 30 50 767 and start your journey to cheaper electricity bills.
