Reduce peak demand, manage capacity and optimise energy use.

Commercial Battery Peak Shaving and MIC Management

On a commercial connection, you’re not only charged for the electricity you use. You’re charged for the capacity you might use and for exceeding it.

A battery that discharges during your half-hour peaks can reduce measured maximum demand, avoid MIC excess charges, and in some cases let you add load without paying for a connection upgrade. Upload your half-hourly data below and the estimator will show you how much of your peak is actually shaveable.

batteryinstall.ie / commercial

How tall are your peaks?

Peak shaving works on tall, brief spikes and fails on broad plateaus. That distinction decides whether a battery reduces your capacity charges or just sits there. Upload your half-hourly data and we'll show you which shape you have — or enter the figures manually if you don't have the file to hand.

Your data

Half-hourly consumption file The HDF file from ESB Networks, or any CSV with a timestamp column and a kWh or kW column. Twelve months gives the best picture; anything is better than nothing. Processed in your browser — nothing is uploaded until you choose to send it.

Your charges from the bill

Capacity charge Per kVA per year. Take it off a recent bill — network charges are published but they vary by connection category.

€ / kVA / yr

Existing solar on site?

Planned load growth? EV fleet, new plant, refrigeration, expansion.

Indicative opportunity Manual

—kW shaveable

Enter your figures or upload a file and the assessment appears here.

Battery power

—

Discharge rating needed.

Battery energy

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To hold the peak.

MIC headroom

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Unused capacity you pay for.

We model from your data before quoting a single kilowatt. If the case doesn't stand up, we say so.

Demand profile Illustrative

LowPeak

Within normal running Peak — what a battery would cover

This is a screening tool, not a model. A real assessment works from twelve months of half-hourly data across a full seasonal cycle, alongside every line of your network charges. What it will tell you is whether a proper look is worth anyone's time.

What you’re paying for on a commercial connection

1 MIC — Maximum Import Capacity.

The capacity your connection is contracted for, billed monthly as a standing capacity charge whether you use it or not. Exceed it and you pay excess capacity charges at a substantially higher rate, applied against the highest excess in a rolling twelve-month window. One bad half hour in January can cost you for a year.

2 MEC — Maximum Export Capacity.

The equivalent for export, relevant if you have generation on site.

Time-of-use import rates.

Day, night and peak bands, with the peak band deliberately expensive.

A battery attacks all three. It shaves the demand peaks that set your MIC requirement, it stores cheap night-rate electricity for daytime use, and it can hold generation back rather than exporting it above your MEC.

What makes a site a good candidate

The shape of the load curve matters more than the size of the bill.

have tall, brief peaks: a chiller cycling, a compressor starting, a batch process, a single shift’s ramp-up, EV chargers coming on together. Short, sharp, and cheap to shave because the battery only has to deliver for a few minutes at a time.

have broad, sustained peaks: a continuous process running eight hours flat. Shaving that needs a battery large enough to carry the load for hours, and the economics rarely work. The load duration curve in the estimator shows which you are at a glance. It’s the single most useful output on the page — tall and narrow means shaveable, broad and flat usually doesn’t. Sectors we see good results in: cold storage, food processing, hotels, manufacturing with intermittent heavy plant, sites with EV charging banks, agricultural sites with milking and cooling loads. [ Adjust to your actual project history. ]

Upload your HDF and get real numbers

ESB Networks provides half-hourly consumption data for your MPRN free of charge. It’s the difference between an estimate and an analysis.

The estimator parses HDF and generic CSV exports **entirely in your browser** — nothing leaves your machine until you choose to send it. It identifies your peak half hours, models what a given battery capacity and power rating would remove from them, and shows the resulting change in measured maximum demand.

If your data is in an awkward format, send it to us and we’ll run it manually.

Beyond peak shaving

Most commercial battery business cases stack several revenue lines rather than relying on one:

1 Peak shaving

reduce measured maximum demand and avoid MIC excess charges

2 Load shifting

buy at night rates, use during the day

3 Solar self-consumption

store midday surplus rather than exporting at commercial CEG rates

4 Export management

hold generation back where it would breach MEC

5 Resilience*

carry critical loads through outages, avoiding lost production or stock

6 Connection deferral

add load on an existing connection instead of paying for an upgrade, where the numbers allow

That last one is frequently the largest single item and it’s the one nobody prices in. If ESB Networks have quoted you for a connection upgrade to accommodate new load, a battery is worth modelling against that quotation before you accept it.

Compliance and lead times

Commercial storage connections require ESB Networks notification and, above certain thresholds, protection arrangements including G10/EGIP relays and witness testing. Installations are certified under IS 10101 by a Safe Electric registered contractor. Larger connections carry lead times measured in months, not weeks — start the conversation earlier than feels necessary.

Accounting treatment matters too: whether the system is purchased, leased or delivered as a service changes how it sits under IFRS 16 or FRS 102 and how it affects your balance sheet. Worth raising with your accountant early, and something we’re happy to discuss with them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MIC and why does it cost me money?

Maximum Import Capacity is the contracted capacity of your connection. You pay a monthly capacity charge based on it, and substantially higher excess charges if you exceed it.

How much can a battery reduce my maximum demand?

Entirely dependent on load shape. Sites with brief, tall peaks can see meaningful reductions from a modest battery; sites with sustained peaks often can’t justify it. The estimator tells you which you are.

What data do you need?

Half-hourly HDF data from ESB Networks, twelve months minimum, plus your recent bills so we can see MIC, current tariff and any excess charges already applied.

Is there a grant for commercial battery storage?

No SEAI grant covers battery storage. [ Note any accelerated capital allowance or other relief that currently applies. ]

Can this work alongside existing solar?

Yes — that’s the most common configuration. Storage added to existing commercial PV usually improves both the peak shaving case and the self-consumption case simultaneously.