Learn
Battery feasibility, from the first meter file to the client report.
Five learning paths, in the order a feasibility study runs. Free to read, no account needed.
01 · Guides: 6 · 38 min
Battery storage basics
What a behind-the-meter battery does for a commercial site: peak shaving, solar self-consumption and price spreads — and what it cannot do.
- What a behind-the-meter battery does for a businessWhere a C&I battery sits, what the meter sees, what decides when it charges and discharges, why businesses add one, and what it does not do.6 min
- Peak shaving, self-consumption, arbitrage, connection limit: the four ways a business battery earnsThe four value streams of a behind-the-meter battery, which bill line each one changes, and where each is strongest in the Netherlands, Germany and Romania.7 min
- kW vs kWh: power, energy and C-rate in plain wordsPower and energy on a meter file, a bill and a battery datasheet, what the C-rate and the duration tell you, and which of the two each battery job needs.5 min
- Usable capacity, depth of discharge and round-trip efficiency: reading a C&I battery datasheetNominal vs usable kWh, efficiency measured at the battery or at the AC side, auxiliary load, inverter limits, cycle life vs warranty — with real datasheet values.7 min
- Seven C&I sites and how their battery case differs: supermarket, cold store, factory, EV depot, hotel, farm, officeReal cases and illustrative numbers for seven site types, with the evidence strength of each, and why the same battery pays differently in Germany, the Netherlands and Romania.8 min
- What a battery feasibility study contains, and what it is notData check, bill rebuilt from the meter data, sizing, a year of dispatch, financials and limits — what a C&I battery study contains, and why it is an estimate.5 min
02 · Guides: 6 · 35 min
Meter data and bills
What to ask the client for, what interval data looks like, gaps, duplicates, daylight saving, kW versus kWh, and how to read the bill it must match.
- What to ask your client for before a battery study: the data checklistWhat to request from a client before a battery study — 15-minute data, invoices, connection, solar, planned loads — and where interval data comes from in NL, DE and RO.6 min
- Getting 15-minute meter data for a Dutch business: metering company, supplier portal or P4Where quarter-hour data comes from for Dutch large and small connections, what is and is not documented, what the file must contain and how to check it against the invoice.5 min
- Lastgang from the grid operator: RLM data and MSCONS explainedWhat a German RLM Lastgang is, who holds it, how MSCONS carries it between market parties, what portal CSVs look like, and the checks before sizing a battery on it.5 min
- Curba de sarcină: getting interval data for a Romanian business siteWho holds a Romanian site's load curve, what the ANRE rules say about measurement data, what could not be verified, and what to request in writing.5 min
- The ten data problems that size a battery for youkW read as kWh, registers, end-labelled timestamps, daylight saving, gaps, spikes and more: how each meter-data problem distorts a battery study, and how to catch it.6 min
- Reading the C&I electricity bill line by line, and rebuilding it from the meter dataThe three parts of a business electricity bill in NL, DE and RO, the billing quantity behind each line, a worked Liander example, tolerances and the causes of a mismatch.8 min
03 · Guides: 6 · 42 min
Tariffs per country
How grid charges, peak pricing and energy prices work in the Netherlands, Germany, Romania and elsewhere, and which part of the bill a battery can change.
- Dutch large-connection tariffs: kW contract, monthly kWmax and kWh, with a Liander 2026 exampleContracted kW, monthly kWmax, kWh and energy tax on a Dutch large connection, with Liander, Stedin and Enexis 2026 rates, a worked example and the ACM 2028 draft.8 min
- ACM 2028: the time-weighted kWmax and what it does to a Dutch battery case (draft decision of 8 October 2026)The ACM draft for Dutch large connections from 2028: weighted kWmax, five time-dependent kWh levels, the weight schedule, the cost split, what is unknown and how to model it now.7 min
- Netcongestie: growing a business within a grid connection you cannot enlargeDutch grid congestion in numbers, the options a business has while it waits, the real sites that used a battery, and what a study for a congested site must show.6 min
- German grid charges for RLM customers: Leistungspreis, Arbeitspreis and the 2,500-hour ruleLeistungspreis on the annual peak, the 2,500-hour split, 2026 levies, §19 StromNEV and AgNes from 2029 — with NEW Netz, Netze BW and RheinNetz 2026 rates.7 min
- §19 StromNEV atypical grid use and the AgNes reform from 2029: what they mean for a batteryAtypical grid use and band load under §19(2) StromNEV, high-load time windows, real and vendor examples, the 2028 expiry and the AgNes booked-capacity model for 2029.7 min
- Romanian business electricity tariffs 2026: energy-only network charges, no kW charge, and what that means for a batteryTransport, system services and distribution per MWh from 1 January 2026, the levies on top, the sums per voltage level, and where a Romanian battery's value comes from instead.7 min
04 · Guides: 6 · 37 min
Sizing and dispatch
Usable kWh and kW, C-rate and round-trip efficiency, how to search for the right size, rule-based versus optimal dispatch, and sizing under a fixed grid connection.
- How to size a battery for peak shaving from a 15-minute profileChoose a target peak, find the power and energy the worst day needs, check recharging and the closed-form limits, then test sizes through a year of 15-minute data.6 min
- Sizing for a connection limit: the smallest battery that keeps you under the kW you haveSize a battery for a grid connection that cannot grow: add the new load, find the excess and the room to recharge, and value it against the upgrade it replaces.6 min
- Rule-based vs optimal dispatch: what a real EMS achieves vs the theoretical bestPerfect foresight, rolling horizon and rule-based dispatch compared, how a rule-based controller decides, the capture ratio, and which number belongs in a report.6 min
- Solar plus battery: self-consumption, export limits and curtailmentWhat a kWh of stored solar is worth, how much surplus a battery can actually shift, export caps and curtailment, negative prices, and how to size against the client's demand.6 min
- Arbitrage on a dynamic contract: when the spread beats the lossesWhen a charge-discharge cycle on a day-ahead contract pays after losses, network charges and wear, what the market spreads are, and why a study should assume a fraction of them.6 min
- Degradation, cycles and replacement: what the battery warranty tells youCalendar and cycle ageing, the warranty terms in real C&I products, how to turn them into a fade rate, field data vs warranty, and when a replacement belongs in the business case.7 min
05 · Guides: 6 · 35 min
Business case and selling
Capex and opex, NPV, IRR and payback, grants and degradation, and how to present an honest feasibility estimate to a client.
- NPV, IRR and payback for a C&I battery, with every assumption visibleSimple payback, NPV and IRR for a C&I battery — cost, maintenance, fade, replacement, discount rate, escalation — with a worked illustrative example and its sensitivities.6 min
- Incentives for business batteries in the Netherlands, Germany and Romania: what the research foundThe Dutch EIA, German depreciation, Romania's AFIR scheme and what was not found — with how to put an incentive into a study without letting it hide a weak case.5 min
- What makes a battery report survive the CFOWhy storage gets cut at capital approval, and what a finance reader checks: bill reconciliation, data appendix, expected case, sensitivities and the battery as its own line.6 min
- Why your study and the vendor's quote disagree, and how to check eitherThe nine usual reasons two battery cases for the same site differ — data, tariff, kWh basis, efficiency, dispatch, cost scope, ageing, stacking, finance — and the questions that settle each.7 min
- Pricing a battery feasibility study as a consultant: what the research foundNo published fixed fees exist; the day-rate proxies that do, an estimate of the effort, what drives it, and how to write an offer whose scope a client can check.5 min
- From study to signed project: a sales sequence for installersA step-by-step sequence from first screen to signed battery project, built on why storage gets cut at approval — with what to send, check and show at each step.6 min
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