This guide explains how peak shaving of demand charges works in Solargraf and how to model the resulting bill savings when you build a battery system for a commercial and industrial (C&I) project.

About peak shaving of demand charges

Demand charges can form a big part of the bill for commercial and industrial (C&I) sites. To reduce the demand charges and help bring significant savings for C&I sites, storage is usually added to reduce grid import at times when demand is high. This is called peak shaving of demand charges, or peak shaving, and it helps reduce the overall bill. This is only applicable for sites where the tariff includes demand charges.

Modelling bill reduction with peak shaving of demand charges

• Create a commercial project.
• Go to the battery design tool. Select the battery of your choice in the left panel.
• In battery mode:
  • Select Savings on electricity bill for new systems.
  • Select Savings (import only) for battery only proposals.
• Build the system and select the battery count of your choice based on the updated recommendation logic, which includes support for peak shaving of demand charges.

Note: Peak shaving support has currently been added for commercial projects. Demand charges can be present in residential bills as well, but are extremely rare. Support for peak shaving of demand charges will be added soon.