Improve project financials with our new DC-coupled battery modeling tool

Sol Rebel
Jan 13, 2023
1 min read

DC-coupled energy storage systems can significantly improve project financials by providing 'clipping recovery' to projects where solar plus storage already makes financial sense. But it is very difficult to model the performance. Luckily, we've got you covered!

Sol Rebel has invested vast amounts of time researching, developing, and validating our battery modeling tool, working with some of our trusted partners. It has been under the microscope of lenders and independent engineers, and now we are excited to share it with new clients.

The most common tools, PVSyst in particular, still can't accurately model various incentive programs' nuanced charge and discharge cycle requirements (for example, the Massachusetts SMART program, or participation in the wholesale markets), while also accounting for the benefits of DC coupled clipping recovery AND detailed losses, such as HVAC in specific climates. And most other tools, such as Helioscope, have no way of modeling DC-coupled batteries.

DC-coupled battery energy storage improves project financials in areas where batteries already make financial sense by reducing clipping losses. For projects with constrained interconnections and extra land area, you can dramatically boost your DC to AC loading ratio, well over 2:1 (!!), without the dramatic clipping losses that otherwise make such loading ratios unthinkable. A project with a 2:1 loading ratio might normally have clipping losses over 25%. A 4-hour DC-coupled battery could bring that down to 5% in specific scenarios.

Just imagine what your project financials would look like if you could increase your DC project size and annual energy production by 20-40% while barely reducing your specific yield and keeping your AC interconnection costs and transaction costs locked in.