Work With A Commercial Solar System Company For
Commercial Solar Battery Storage In Lake Forest & Orange County, CA
Barnes Solar While batteries and the concept of energy storage are still a recent object of interest in residential solar, they have been a proven money saver with commercial solar panel installations. The key concept to understand is demand charges. In residential solar, homeowners only pay for power when they use that power. Commercial customers are charged for the power they use and also pay demand charges, which are measured by looking at the most power being delivered in one billing cycle. In fact, demand meters actually record the average flow of power for every 15-minute interval. Utilities then bill commercial customers for the largest 15-minute interval during that period. This means that most commercial customers are paying thousands of dollars in electricity bills every month and, in many cases, 40-50% of that bill can stem from demand charges, especially in California.
This is where solar panel installations, solar energy storage and solar energy financing comes into play. In many cases, a simple commercial solar panel installation will certainly help a business owner offset their electricity usage and start to save money, but it will only be the tip of the iceberg. Just installing solar panels can only help so much. What most business owners really need is a solar energy system that includes battery storage to help offset the demand charges.
Energy Charges
Total Amount of Energy Used
Demand Charges
Highest 15-minute Peak Each Month
If you were looking at the bill on a graph, it would look similar to a lie detector test. The demand charges are the jagged peaks on the graph and those spikes are costly. This is where solar energy storage comes in. Batteries essentially smooth out the graph by deploying energy from the solar panels when the customer needs it most, thus reducing the customer’s demand charges. The simple concept is that while the solar energy system is producing electricity during the day, the batteries will charge. Then, at night, when the solar energy system is no longer actively producing electricity, the batteries release that stored solar energy when commercial customers still rely on utility power for their facilities.
California’s demand charges are some of the most expensive in the country and new time of use rates aren’t going to change that. This is why looking into solar panel installations is a good idea. The first thought for many business owners examining the financial benefits of batteries is that it will add to the cost of what is already a very expensive project. There is no doubt that this is true. But, through solar energy financing options and available incentives, a business owner can drive down the cost of the solar panel installation to a more palatable amount.
The good news is that batteries are not only eligible for the 30% federal tax credit but they are also eligible for the SGIP rebate. This means that while batteries can be an expensive at retail cost, incentives can return nearly 40% that cost to the business owner. The other good news is that there are solar energy financing options available for batteries that at least help offset the upfront retail cost.
Barnes Solar has done hundreds of commercial solar panel installations and many of them have included battery storage. If you are interested in learning more about how Barnes Solar can install solar panels and battery storage on your building. Please reach out to our commercial team.