Battery feasibility for commercial and industrial sites, explained.
Short, practical guides on meter data, tariffs, sizing, dispatch and the business case.
- Basics · 7 min read
Peak shaving, self-consumption, arbitrage, connection limit: the four ways a business battery earns
The 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.
- Basics · 5 min read
What a battery feasibility study contains, and what it is not
Data 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.
- Meter data & bills · 6 min read
What to ask your client for before a battery study: the data checklist
What 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.
- Meter data & bills · 6 min read
The ten data problems that size a battery for you
kW 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.
- Tariffs · 8 min read
Dutch large-connection tariffs: kW contract, monthly kWmax and kWh, with a Liander 2026 example
Contracted 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.
- Tariffs · 7 min read
German grid charges for RLM customers: Leistungspreis, Arbeitspreis and the 2,500-hour rule
Leistungspreis 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.
- Sizing & dispatch · 6 min read
How to size a battery for peak shaving from a 15-minute profile
Choose 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.
- Sizing & dispatch · 6 min read
Sizing for a connection limit: the smallest battery that keeps you under the kW you have
Size 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.
- Business case · 6 min read
NPV, IRR and payback for a C&I battery, with every assumption visible
Simple payback, NPV and IRR for a C&I battery — cost, maintenance, fade, replacement, discount rate, escalation — with a worked illustrative example and its sensitivities.
- Business case · 6 min read
What makes a battery report survive the CFO
Why 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.
- Basics · 6 min read
What a behind-the-meter battery does for a business
Where 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.
- Basics · 5 min read
kW vs kWh: power, energy and C-rate in plain words
Power 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.
- Basics · 7 min read
Usable capacity, depth of discharge and round-trip efficiency: reading a C&I battery datasheet
Nominal 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.
- Basics · 8 min read
Seven C&I sites and how their battery case differs: supermarket, cold store, factory, EV depot, hotel, farm, office
Real 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.
- Meter data & bills · 5 min read
Getting 15-minute meter data for a Dutch business: metering company, supplier portal or P4
Where 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.
- Meter data & bills · 5 min read
Lastgang from the grid operator: RLM data and MSCONS explained
What 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.
- Meter data & bills · 5 min read
Curba de sarcină: getting interval data for a Romanian business site
Who 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.
- Meter data & bills · 8 min read
Reading the C&I electricity bill line by line, and rebuilding it from the meter data
The 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.
- Tariffs · 7 min read
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.
- Tariffs · 6 min read
Netcongestie: growing a business within a grid connection you cannot enlarge
Dutch 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.
- Tariffs · 7 min read
§19 StromNEV atypical grid use and the AgNes reform from 2029: what they mean for a battery
Atypical 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.
- Tariffs · 7 min read
Romanian business electricity tariffs 2026: energy-only network charges, no kW charge, and what that means for a battery
Transport, 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.
- Sizing & dispatch · 6 min read
Rule-based vs optimal dispatch: what a real EMS achieves vs the theoretical best
Perfect foresight, rolling horizon and rule-based dispatch compared, how a rule-based controller decides, the capture ratio, and which number belongs in a report.
- Sizing & dispatch · 6 min read
Solar plus battery: self-consumption, export limits and curtailment
What 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.
- Sizing & dispatch · 6 min read
Arbitrage on a dynamic contract: when the spread beats the losses
When 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.
- Sizing & dispatch · 7 min read
Degradation, cycles and replacement: what the battery warranty tells you
Calendar 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.
- Business case · 5 min read
Incentives for business batteries in the Netherlands, Germany and Romania: what the research found
The 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.
- Business case · 7 min read
Why your study and the vendor's quote disagree, and how to check either
The 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.
- Business case · 5 min read
Pricing a battery feasibility study as a consultant: what the research found
No 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.
- Business case · 6 min read
From study to signed project: a sales sequence for installers
A 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.