A battery does not pay off through one application but through the right combination. This guide shows which levers decide the economics — and why capacity and power have to be sized as two separate questions.
Capacity (kWh) determines how long the battery delivers; power (kW) determines how hard it cuts a peak. Peak shaving is about kW, arbitrage about kWh. The wrong balance gives away return — EXAIOS optimises both together.
A battery that only shaves peaks stands idle most of the time. Only stacking — peak shaving plus arbitrage plus balancing — raises utilisation and return. What matters is computing the physical conflicts between the services correctly, rather than flattering them additively.
Peak shaving saves demand charge (predictable, site-specific). Arbitrage exploits price spreads (volatile). Balancing services (FCR/aFRR) pay for availability (market-dependent). The optimal mix depends on the load profile and the market — and it shifts over the lifetime.
What decides is not CapEx but lifecycle economics including degradation, cycles, the replacement threshold (SOH) and operating cost. EXAIOS computes across the full lifetime, with a defensible SOH curve.
EXAIOS returns the decisive figures for every site:
We publish no invented numbers. Compute your real site in minutes — the first indication is free.
Start a free indicationThere is no blanket size — it follows from the load profile, the grid connection and the revenue mix. EXAIOS derives the kWh/kW sizing deterministically from your data.
Rarely optimal. Multi-use raises utilisation considerably. EXAIOS tests which combination delivers the highest return at your site.
Through an SOH curve with a replacement threshold — the lifecycle cost includes ageing and replacement, not just the purchase price.