A framework for testing whether a BESS earns its keep at your site, and which revenue stacks actually stack.
Batteries are having a moment. Prices have fallen, warranties have lengthened and revenue routes have multiplied. It does not follow that every site should have one.
The commercial test we apply has three questions. First, is there enough shape in your day — evening peaks, morning ramps, expensive DUoS bands — to make arbitrage worth it? Second, do you have on-site generation whose value drops if it exports below wholesale? Third, is resilience worth paying for on this site, and how much?
Where two of the three questions score well, a BESS usually earns its keep. Where only one does, the payback drifts past ten years and the case gets harder to defend.
The trap to avoid is stacking revenue streams on paper that cannot physically stack in practice. A battery cannot simultaneously do peak avoidance, wholesale trading and a firm frequency contract; the control system will choose one at any given moment. Model the real dispatch, not the theoretical envelope.