Graphene batteries and solar erase $466K in California food distributor demand charges

ONSITE Utility Services says a California grocery distributor cut its annual Super-Peak electricity charges by $466,452 by pairing solar with graphene battery storage. The zero-capital project lowered annual power costs and shows how 24/7 cold-storage operators can blunt California’s 4-9 p.m. rate spike without taking on debt.

Why it matters: - California’s 4-9 p.m. Super-Peak window can drive up electricity bills for cold-storage and food-distribution operations that must run around the clock. - ONSITE Utility Services says the project eliminated a punitive demand-charge layer without any upfront capital from the customer. - The result shows how energy storage plus solar can reduce operating costs for businesses with heavy, nonstop electrical loads.

What happened: - ONSITE Utility Services announced that a California grocery-store food distributor paired solar generation with graphene battery storage to eliminate $466,452 in annual Super-Peak demand charges. - The project was funded through ONSITE’s Energy-as-a-Service platform, which covered the full project cost with no client capital investment. - ONSITE said the customer is a 24/7 cold-storage and packaged-food distribution operation.

The details: - ONSITE and its contractor reviewed 12 months of electric bills and interval data before sizing the system. - The solar-plus-graphene-battery setup was designed to offset demand during the full five-hour Super-Peak period. - Total annual electricity cost fell from $2,602,910 to $2,136,458. - The net project cost was $3,011,961 after rebates and the Investment Tax Credit. - ONSITE financed 100% of that amount under a 20-year EaaS service term. - The customer’s capital requirement was zero. - The client retained $11,894 in monthly savings. - ONSITE projects $2,843,727 in net savings over the 20-year service term. - The company said food distribution is capital-intensive and that the customer had no CapEx budget and no appetite for debt as electric rates rose 3%-5% annually.

Between the lines: - The project points to a growing incentive for industrial customers to treat energy bills as a finance problem, not just an operations problem. - Demand charges can matter as much as total energy use for businesses with predictable peak loads. - EaaS models can make large energy upgrades feasible for customers that cannot or will not fund them directly.

What’s next: - ONSITE is positioning its EaaS model for more commercial, industrial, healthcare, and municipal sites nationwide. - The company says customers pay a monthly service fee lower than prior combined energy and maintenance costs, then keep ongoing savings after the service term ends. - More information is available at ONSITE Utility Services.

The bottom line: - For high-load food distributors, solar plus battery storage can turn a costly utility surcharge into long-term savings without upfront capital.