Page 36 - Energize October 2021

VIEWS AND OPINION

Is solar photovoltaic (PV) and batteries the right

option for my business?

Information from IMPOWER
A s the price of electricity increases, changes in regulations occur and the cost of solar power outages, reduction in maximum

demand (peak shaving), energy arbitrage
decreases, so that many business owners now look to Solar PV as a feasible option.
Many clients approach solar PV installers with expressions of: “My utility bills are
referred to as “stacked benefits”).
increasing, and I’m tired of load shedding! Can you please install solar to take us off the grid?”. or a combination of the above (commonly
Other questions raised include: if it was that cheap and straightforward, why don’t we see solar on
all the roofs around us? What is stopping it? Is it easy or perhaps not-so-easy to implement such a So, what next?
project for my business? After deciding whether you need a grid-
To help business owners navigate this field, IMPOWER has put together some guidelines that tied solar PV system to reduce your energy
will help you decide whether solar PV is, in fact, the right solution for your business. bill or an off-grid system with batteries to
supply backup power, there are a few other
Off-grid vs. grid-tied? elements to consider:
This question presents two predicaments, which have very different solutions. First, off-grid
systems hold the primary function of providing power when none is available, where grid-tied 1. Do you own the building?
systems offer financial savings to combat the increasing cost of electricity. One of the first aspects that will define what
Solar PV on its own does not solve your power outage (or load shedding) problems. Well, you can and cannot do is whether you own
then what is the point, you may ask? The primary function of a solar PV system is to reduce the the building to which you would like to have
energy demand from your utility, saving you money by solving the problem of rising energy costs a solar PV system installed. If you are not the
from the utility. building owner or landlord, you will need to
It can be stated that power outages or load shedding situations can only be solved by make the necessary arrangements with the
adding batteries, which adds costs. However, batteries don’t generate electricity (they only store building owner/landlord to get approval to
electricity). They, therefore, do not contribute to the savings you will see on your electricity bill install a solar PV system on the roof.
from your utility unless they are used for various other applications.
2. Utility or municipal approval
How do I justify the costs of batteries? All SSEG (small scale embedded generation
Comparing the cost of buying and running a generator vs. the cost of adding batteries to a solar systems) such as solar PV on commercial or
PV project to supply your site with backup power is recommended. If your site already has a industrial roofs will need authorisation or
generator and the only expense is fuel, it is unlikely that batteries will make financial sense. approval from the utility service provider.
Additional financial justification for batteries could be the loss of revenue in the event of Some municipalities have well-defined

Figure 1: Daily solar production vs. consumption

energize | October 2021 | 34