Battery and energy storage
Your demand peak is a cost. A battery turns it into a saving.
The effektledd — the capacity charge in your grid tariff — is billed on the single highest hour of demand your building records each month. A correctly sized battery shaves that hour, and it can also store your solar output, work the price differences across the day and offer capacity in Statnett’s reserve markets.
How we deliver
Three routes to a battery
We deliver batteries as EPC — we engineer them, build them, file the nettmelding (the grid connection notification) with the grid company and commission the system.
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Battery with a new solar installation
A turnkey delivery where the battery is designed in from the start, alongside the solar installation. Includes engineering, the nettmelding and commissioning.
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Battery on its own
A standalone cabinet or container connected to your existing electrical installation. You do not need solar for a battery to pay off — the capacity charge is cut either way.
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Retrofit on an existing installation
The inverter is swapped for a hybrid inverter, and the battery is sited at ground level and cabled to the array on the roof. That puts a battery within reach of installations already standing — including the ones we delivered in earlier years.
The arithmetic: what a shaved kW is worth
The effektledd in the nettleie (the capacity element of the grid rent) is billed on the site’s highest hour of demand in each calendar month. That is the hour the battery shaves — and every kW you remove permanently, you remove from all twelve months.
Rates for commercial customers using more than 100 000 kWh a year, excluding VAT:
| Grid company | Winter (Oct–Mar) | Summer (Apr–Sep) | Per kW per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elvia, low voltage | 74 kr/kW/month | 31 kr/kW/month | 630 kr |
| Glitre Nett, low voltage | 99 kr/kW/month | 33 kr/kW/month | 792 kr |
| Glitre Nett, high voltage | 88.50 kr/kW/month | 29.50 kr/kW/month | 708 kr |
An example
A commercial building in Elvia’s network has a demand peak of 500 kW. The battery shaves that peak to 350 kW every month. The saving on the capacity charge is 150 kW × 630 kr = around 95 000 kroner a year, excluding VAT. If the building sits in Glitre Nett’s area, the same reduction is worth around 119 000 kroner.
As a rule of thumb, every kW you shave permanently is worth 630–790 kroner a year, depending on the grid company. The winter half of the year accounts for 70–75 per cent of the value.
Assumptions: the rates are those in force today and are set by the grid companies — see the tariff sheets from Elvia and Glitre Nett for current prices. The saving assumes the battery is sized, in both kW and kWh, to shave the peak every month. Fixed charges and reactive power are unaffected.
Return
Four ways the battery earns — at the same time
The revenue streams stack. The same battery can earn from several of them at once, and it is the stacking that decides the payback period.
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1. A lower capacity charge
The battery charges when demand is low and covers the peaks, so the month’s highest draw falls. This is the most certain of the four: it is independent of power prices and markets, and it applies to everyone on an effekttariff (a demand-based grid tariff).
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2. More of your own solar used on site
The midday surplus is stored and used in the evening instead of being sold cheaply. The value is the difference between what you are paid for exported power and what you pay for imported power, including nettleie (grid rent) and levies.
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3. Price arbitrage
Charge in the cheap hours, use or sell in the expensive ones. It pays best in price areas with wide swings across the day, and it comes on top of the first two without adding anything to the investment.
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4. The reserve markets
Statnett pays for capacity held ready to stabilise the frequency of the grid — FCR-N, FCR-D, aFRR and mFRR. This is the stream that can halve the payback period, and it requires prequalification and a balance responsible party.
The reserve markets, and who does what
EnergiSmart has entered into a partnership and distribution agreement with Fifty Energy for the optimisation of battery systems in FCR-N, FCR-D, aFRR and mFRR. The roles divide as follows:
- EnergiSmart delivers the system and its controls, and holds the role of technical aggregator.
- Fifty Energy’s platform optimises operation and bids the capacity into the markets.
- Elmera Energy is the balance responsible party, and is the one participating in the market on the system’s behalf.
The installation must be larger than 1 MWp to offer services in the frequency markets. Below that, the first three revenue streams above are the ones that apply — and on their own they are enough to justify a battery.
What the market has paid
Statnett’s own calculator shows that the average price in price area NO1 over the past twelve months has been 291 kr/MW/h for FCR-N and 240 kr/MW/h for FCR-D up. At twelve hours of participation a day, that corresponded to something of the order of 1–1.3 million kroner per MW a year, before activation compensation.
These are historical market prices, not a promise. Prices in the reserve markets move, and the income depends on how much capacity the installation can actually make available. Capacity you set aside for the reserve market is capacity no longer free to shave demand peaks — a trade-off the control system makes continuously, and one we set up together with you.
Payback period
The payback period depends on the demand profile of the building, your grid company’s tariff, the price area you sit in, and whether the installation is large enough to qualify for the reserve markets.
- Under 10 years where the battery is used behind the meter — peak shaving against the effekttariff, more of your own solar used on site, and price arbitrage.
- Under 5 years where the installation is also offered into the reserve markets.
We do the arithmetic for your building before you decide. We need your consumption profile and your grid tariff agreement, and you get a calculation with the assumptions visible — not a round number.
Scale
From cabinet to container
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Size
The standard range starts at cabinets from around 261 kWh and runs up to container solutions in the MWh class. The retrofit route covers smaller installations, depending on the capacity of the hybrid inverter.
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What we have delivered
We have delivered installations from around the 100 kWh class up to 750 kW / 1 566 kWh, and we engineer installations in the MW class. In practice there is no upper limit that stops us.
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Warranty
We pass on the manufacturer’s warranty for the system you get. Depending on the supplier that means up to 10 years and up to 10 000 cycles — we go through the actual terms for your system in the quotation.
Questions and answers
About batteries for commercial customers
…or can you not find what you are looking for?
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01. Do I need solar to get value out of a battery?
No. A battery shaves the demand peak whatever the power comes from, and the capacity charge is often the largest single item the battery pays down. Solar improves the arithmetic, but it is not a precondition.
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02. Can I add a battery to a solar installation I already have?
Yes. We swap the inverter for a hybrid inverter, site the battery in a suitable place at ground level and cable it to the array on the roof. That makes a battery an option for installations that have been standing for years.
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03. How large does the installation have to be to earn in the reserve markets?
It must be larger than 1 MWp to offer services in the frequency markets. Below that, the return comes from reducing the capacity charge, using more of your own solar on site, and price arbitrage.
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04. Is the income from the reserve markets guaranteed?
No. Prices in the reserve markets are set by the market and they move. The figures we show are historical average prices from Statnett, and they say what the market has paid — not what it will pay. That is why we always work out the return behind the meter first, and treat the reserve market as something that comes on top.
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05. Which systems do you supply?
Cabinets from GoodWe, Huawei, Sungrow, CNTE and JA Solar, and container solutions from CNTE, Huawei and Cube Energy. We choose the system to suit the project, not to suit one fixed supplier.
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06. How long is the warranty on the battery?
We pass on the manufacturer’s warranty for the system you get. Depending on the supplier that means up to 10 years and up to 10 000 cycles. We go through the actual terms for your system in the quotation.
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07. Can the battery both shave demand peaks and take part in the reserve market?
Yes, but not fully on both at once. Capacity reserved for the reserve market is not available to shave a demand peak in the same hour. The control system makes that trade-off continuously, and we set it up around what gives your building the most.
Want to know what a battery is worth for your building?
Send us your consumption profile and your grid tariff agreement, and we will work it out and show you the assumptions behind the figure.