More industrial businesses are taking the decision to invest in battery energy storage systems, which can help them make sizable carbon reductions while keeping costs and disruption to a minimum. Carlos Nieto, Global Product Line Manager for Energy Storage Solutions at ABB, explains three crucial factors they must take into account to get the most out of their investment. Over recent years, battery energy storage solutions have come to the fore as an attractive option for industrial businesses struggling with a challenging operational environment.

As energy prices continue to rise and environmental regulations tighten, operators are increasingly seeking solutions that can drive efficiencies and optimize energy consumption levels without the huge capital expenditure that comes with a full system upgrade.

Battery Energy Storage Systems, or BESS, which help businesses manage energy costs by leveraging peak shaving, load shifting and maximization of self-consumption, tick all of those boxes, at the same time as providing critical backup power.

There are four key scenarios where investing in energy storage makes commercial sense. (LINK) But making the decision is the easy part. Once it’s time to move onto the specification process, there are three crucial factors industrial businesses must consider to get the most out of their investment.

1. Safety must always come first; any industrial or commercial provider has a duty of care to ensure safe and secure working conditions for personnel and maintenance staff. As the number of energy storage installations increases, these may also end up being installed in the public domain, for example in parking lots, making safety an even more important concern. Businesses must ensure that the solution they select has been factory-tested and pre-engineered to reduce risk. It must also be contained in a lockable enclosure to prevent unauthorized entry.

2. Scalability must also be accounted for. As decarbonization accelerates, it is becoming more difficult for businesses to predict what loads will be required a year from now, let alone in five years’ time. Businesses must always specify a system with the capacity to scale with the business, as its demands and objectives evolve.

3. Finally, it is wise to invest in an energy storage system that can fully integrate with digital monitoring and control systems. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, these systems can give businesses the insights they need to make better decisions about energy savings and emissions, helping them optimize efficiencies.

At ABB, we realize that the process of specifying a battery energy storage solution can be a minefield for large-scale industrial businesses, which is why these three factors are our highest priorities. In addition, any investment made in an ABB energy storage solution will form just one part of a long-term partnership approach designed to support the business’s decarbonization journey.

There is no escaping the future; renewables and alternative forms of distribution continue to become more embedded in the grid. While this brings new complexity for industrial and commercial businesses, it also provides an opportunity to reimagine their sustainability strategy and take advantage of innovation.