Large-scale battery installation

A commercial battery is not a bigger version of the one on a house. It is electrical infrastructure: protection, connection approvals, fire separation and a control strategy that has to earn its return every day. We design, install and commission storage from 100 kWh to multiple megawatt-hours across Sydney.

A battery energy storage system stores cheap or self-generated energy and releases it when power is expensive, when demand peaks, or when the grid goes down.

It attacks the demand charge

On a commercial invoice, a large share of the bill is not energy at all. It is the network charge set by your highest half-hour of demand. A battery discharges into those half hours, so the peak the network bills you for never happens.

It moves cheap energy into expensive hours

Midday is when energy is cheapest and, if you have solar, free. Evening is when it costs the most. Storage buys at one price and uses at the other, every day, without anyone changing how the site operates.

It keeps the critical load alive

Designed for backup, a battery carries nominated circuits through an outage with no start-up delay, no fuel and no noise. For cold storage, medical equipment or a production line mid-run, that turns a write-off into an inconvenience.

Two numbers, not one

A battery is specified in both power and energy: how many kilowatts it can deliver at once, and how many kilowatt-hours it holds. Shaving a short, sharp peak needs power. Carrying an evening load or a night shift needs energy. Sizing for the wrong one is the most common and most expensive mistake in commercial storage.

We start from twelve months of interval data. That shows the shape of your peaks, how often they occur, what they cost you, and how much of the year the asset would actually work. The model produces a capacity, a payback and a set of assumptions you can interrogate, before there is a quote to argue about.

Where it can go is a compliance question

Installations at this scale are governed by AS/NZS 5139, which sets separation distances from building openings, escape routes, boundaries and occupied spaces, along with ventilation and fire requirements. Outdoor cabinets or containers on a slab are the usual answer; plant rooms are possible where the construction supports it.

Practical constraints matter as much as the standard: cable run back to the main switchboard, crane or forklift access on the delivery day, clearance for maintenance, and where a fire brigade would work if it ever had to. We resolve siting on the first visit rather than discovering it at delivery.

The network sets the timeline

Anything that can push power into the grid needs the distributor’s approval, and above a certain size that means a connection assessment, protection settings, and sometimes a limit on export or on the way the system responds to a network disturbance. This is the part of a storage project that overruns when it is treated as an afterthought.

Switchboards, protection and network applications are our own trade, not a subcontract. We prepare the application, coordinate protection with the existing installation, and stage the works so the site keeps running while the connection is made.

One contractor, whole job

Most of a battery project is electrical infrastructure work: protection, switchboards, network approvals and staged works around live plant. That is what we have done since 1999.

Across Central, Southern and South Western Sydney

How large does a site need to be to justify a battery?

It is set by your demand charges and tariff, not your floor area. If peak demand is a visible line on the invoice, or you are on a time-of-use tariff with a wide spread between peak and off-peak, storage usually has a case. We read your interval data first and tell you if it does not.

Do we need solar already installed?

No. A battery earns its return from tariff arbitrage, demand charge reduction and backup supply on its own. Existing solar improves the case, because charging from your own generation is cheaper than charging from the grid, but it is not a prerequisite.

Where does a system this size actually go?

Outdoor cabinets or containers on a slab, plant rooms, or unused hardstand. Siting is driven by fire separation, ventilation, access for maintenance and cable run to the main switchboard. We resolve all four at the assessment stage, before anything is ordered.

Will it keep the site running in a blackout?

It can, if it is designed to. Backup requires the loads you want held to be separated onto their own board and the system specified to form a grid rather than follow one. Tell us at the outset which loads matter and we will price that configuration.

How long does the whole process take?

The variable is the network. Design, approvals and connection assessment dominate the timeline; installation and commissioning are comparatively short. We give you the current expected dates for your DNSP once the connection application is lodged.

Is there a NSW rebate for commercial batteries?

Yes. Since 1 September 2026, NSW businesses installing a battery between 20 kWh and 30,000 kWh can get an upfront discount under the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme, which the NSW Government puts at 20 to 40 per cent. We arrange it as part of your quote. See NSW business battery discount.