Commercial Solar & Battery Advice
Make the decision from the numbers, not the sales pitch. I look at how your business uses electricity, what you pay, when you use it, and what you want the project to achieve.
Commercial Solar
Assess system size around daytime use, operating hours, roof space, tariffs and future growth.
Commercial Batteries
Investigate storage where excess solar, later grid use, peak tariffs, demand charges or backup needs create a real use case.
Compare Options
Where useful, compare solar-only, solar + battery and alternative system sizes rather than forcing one answer.
How I work out what size system a business needs
I do not start by asking how many panels will fit on the roof. I start with the business.
Energy profile
- Annual electricity use
- Daytime consumption
- Operating hours
- Seasonal changes
- Demand charges
- Solar exports
Future requirements
- New machinery
- Business expansion
- EV charging
- Electrification
- Battery storage
- Network limits
Commercial batteries should solve a real problem
A battery may be worth investigating when the business exports useful solar during the day and then buys expensive electricity later. It may also help with certain demand-charge patterns or backup requirements.
It is “What problem will the battery solve, and is the benefit worth the cost?”
Understand the financial result
A proposal can include expected generation, self-consumption, exports, estimated annual savings, payback, longer-term savings, incentives and important assumptions. Larger projects may also benefit from NPV or IRR analysis.
Your electricity bill is the starting point
A commercial bill may show consumption, rates, demand charges, supply charges and existing solar exports. For more complex projects, interval data can show when the business uses electricity throughout the day.