A battery gives your solar electricity more options. You can store energy produced during the day and use it later, or export it when it is more valuable. The available choices depend on your connection and how the battery is operated.
That can create value even if your business already uses most of the electricity its panels produce. What matters is when that energy is worth most, and how your electricity provider shares the benefit with you.
A battery changes when solar can be used
Without a battery, solar electricity is used as it is generated or sent to the grid. Your opening hours and the weather largely decide how those two things line up.
Storage adds another choice. Some solar energy can go into the battery and be used after production falls, perhaps while the kitchen is still serving dinner or the workshop is finishing its day. Where exports are permitted, stored energy can also be sent to the grid later.
Already using most of your solar?
There can still be a reason to change when you use it. For example, a business might use lower-cost grid electricity during the day while storing some solar generation for a more valuable time.
Later, the battery could supply the business when wholesale electricity is expensive, or export stored energy if that creates more value. The business keeps running while the operator manages those choices.
Whether that works depends on the difference in electricity value between those times, battery losses and operating costs. Using solar directly already has value; storing it needs to improve on that.
How that value reaches your bill
An operator may be able to lower the cost of supplying your business by coordinating solar, the battery and grid electricity. Your benefit depends on how it shares those lower costs.
Cable funds, owns and operates the Cable battery and manages those decisions. We use the lower supply costs to support a lower electricity price for your business. You do not need to watch wholesale prices or choose when to charge and discharge.
For an existing solar site, we look at the generation and electricity-use patterns together, along with the equipment already installed. Your quote shows whether adding a battery can turn that opportunity into a better electricity offer.