A remote wood-products plant in Northern BC was losing thousands in downtime because the region’s frequent storms and feeder faults knocked the grid offline several times each quarter. We deployed a 3.4 MWh, UL 9540- certified Battery Energy Storage System that now carries the entire production line through every outage—saws, kilns, conveyors, and dust-collection fans keep running with zero product spoilage.
| Battery system CAPEX | $840,000 |
| BC Hydro Energy Study & Implementation (ESI) grant – 80 % | – $672,000 |
| Client share before ITC (20 %) | $168,000 |
| 30 % Investment Tax Credit on client share | – $50,400 |
| Net client capital outlay | $117,600 |
By supplying power during the highest-load interval, the battery trims the facility’s peak from P₁ kW to P₂ kW, avoiding demand charges on that difference every billing cycle and smoothing the site’s load profile for the utility.
By combining everyday peak-shaving with grid-service revenue, the 3.4 MWh battery delivers two stacked cash flows. First, flattening the plant’s load curve trims demandcharge line items by ≈ $10 000 per month (~$120 000 / yr). Second, when BC Hydro issues Demand Response dispatches, the BESS discharges into the grid and earns an additional ≈ $10 000 per month in DR payments (~$120 000 / yr). After covering the $15 000 annual EMS licence & routine O&M, the site pockets roughly $225 000 in net benefit every year, turning the storage asset into both a cost-saver and a profit center.
Resilience: Zero production downtime during grid events; kiln temperature never drops. control: 25 % cut in demand-charge line items; predictable energy budget. Revenue: DR participation converts stored energy into cash during provincial peak alerts. ESG & brand: Lower Scope-2 emissions, aligns with Chain-of-Custody sustainability audits. Future-proof: PCS and EMS are sized for future solar or wind tie-in.
