The Challenge
A facility added battery storage to its existing solar installation to improve self-consumption. Initial self-consumption rate was only 48% — lower than expected for a solar-battery system.
What Became Visible
Monitoring of solar generation, battery state-of-charge, consumption, and grid flow revealed that the battery was being charged inefficiently. The battery was being charged and discharged multiple times daily but not coordinated with actual high-consumption periods. The charging strategy wasn't optimized for the facility's unique consumption pattern.
What Changed
Optimized battery charging and discharging logic based on consumption forecasting and time-of-use tariffs. Battery was charged during high-solar, low-consumption windows and discharged during high-consumption, low-solar windows.
How it worked: Charging and discharging were coordinated with the facility's actual consumption pattern. The battery was prioritized to charge during peak solar generation and discharge during morning and evening consumption peaks. Grid interaction was optimized to avoid peak tariff windows. Self-consumption improved from 48% to 72%.
Results
during peak solar hours
annual reduction
from battery optimization
Battery storage is only valuable if it's charged and discharged optimally. Without intelligent management based on consumption patterns and tariff structure, batteries are expensive idle assets. With optimization, they transform solar from a day-time resource into a 24-hour resource.
Operational Reality
Most solar-battery installations operate with 30–50% self-consumption. The installations that optimize battery management achieve 65–75% self-consumption.