Site load and connection
Start from the site's measured load, set its import and export limits, and grow the load over the project's life as it electrifies.
Project types
Behind-the-meter solar and storage modelling
Behind-the-meter energy solutions integrate generation, storage and demand flexibility behind the meter to reduce supply costs and emissions, or to generate revenue from market and network services. Gridcog models them against the site's own load, tariffs and grid connection, interval by interval, and shows the value for the site and every other party.
Sustain Commercial Solar has modelled roughly 400 MWh of battery storage across 50 sites in Gridcog in about 12 months, and estimates around £27m of investment secured over that time.
In a Gridcog model of a stadium based on Wembley, adding a 3 MW / 6 MWh battery to rooftop solar cut the match-day peak from 4.1 MW to 2.8 MW. Market earnings rose from £14,000 to £254,000 a year.
In a Gridcog model of a supermarket in nine European markets, a 500 kWh battery with solar saved about €60,000 a year in Portugal, over a third of it from avoided network demand charges.
What are behind-the-meter energy solutions?
Generation, storage and demand flexibility installed on the customer's side of the site's main meter, alongside its existing load. Typical examples are rooftop or car park solar, a commercial and industrial (C&I) battery, EV charging and flexible loads such as heat pumps. C&I batteries are typically 100 kWh to 5 MWh, at sites connected to the distribution network at low or medium voltage.
How does a behind-the-meter battery create value?
In four ways, which it can stack.
| Value | How it works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Lower energy supply costs | Stores cheaper or solar energy for expensive periods, and cuts peak demand charges | Time-of-use rates, solar self-consumption and demand charge management |
| Market revenue | Trades in wholesale, ancillary, balancing and capacity markets, often through an aggregator | In Great Britain, P415 lets an independent aggregator trade a behind-the-meter battery separately from the site's supply contract |
| Network capacity | Keeps the site's net demand within its connection, as an alternative to a costly or slow upgrade | A battery lets a supermarket add EV chargers without a bigger connection (see below) |
| Reliability | Keeps critical loads running during a supply interruption | Backup power for sites that can't afford downtime |
How does Gridcog model behind-the-meter solar and storage?
As one site with its own load, assets, tariffs and grid connection. Gridcog co-optimises every asset interval by interval against the prices and charges the site actually faces, then compares each design with the site as it is today.
Solar and storage
Model solar from weather data for the site's location, add a battery, and use autosizing to find the solar and battery sizes with the highest net cashflow.
Tariffs and network charges
Apply the site's supply contract and network tariff, including time-of-use rates and demand charges. An April 2026 Gridcog analysis covered 1,950 tariffs with demand charges in the Gridcog Library, from 119 networks in 28 countries.
Market access
Expose the battery to the wholesale, ancillary, balancing and capacity markets it can reach, with local rules such as P415 in Great Britain.
EV charging and flexible loads
Add EV chargers, heat pumps and other flexible loads, and see how they change the site's peak and how much of it the battery can cover.
Commercial models
Model ownership, asset finance or a behind-the-meter PPA, add each party as a participant, and see the cashflows for the site owner, PPA provider and aggregator.
Modelled in Gridcog
Can solar and a battery cut a stadium's energy costs?
Yes. Solar cuts the import bill, but only the battery tackles the evening match-day peak. Gridcog Energy Analyst Joshua Elliott modelled a stadium based on Wembley in London, with a synthetic load from a 4 MW peak assumption and about 40 major events a year. Evening kick-offs land in the 16:00 to 19:00 peak, when wholesale prices and red-band distribution charges are at their highest.
| Scenario | What was added | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Full grid connection | Nothing | Match-day import spikes land in the most expensive hours |
| 2. Add solar | 2.7 to 4.0 MW DC of rooftop solar | Lower import bill; £14,000 a year of wholesale export earnings; no help with evening peaks |
| 3. Add solar and battery | Solar plus a 3 MW / 6 MWh battery, with market access through P415 | Match-day peak cut from 4.1 MW to 2.8 MW; £254,000 a year of market earnings on non-event days |
Joshua Elliott
Energy Analyst
Read Joshua's analysis: can football stadiums cut energy costs with solar and BESS?
Planning solar and storage at a business site?
Model it in GridcogCan a battery avoid a grid connection upgrade?
Pete Tickler
Chief Product Officer
It can, if the extra load is peaky. In Pete Tickler's model of a small supermarket near Utrecht, five 50 kW EV chargers would add about 130 kW to a site that already peaks at 110 kW on a 150 kW connection. In one modelled week, demand reached 234 kW. A 200 kWh / 100 kW battery that charges at quiet times and discharges when the chargers are busy kept the site's peak below 150 kW.
Whether the battery beats an upgrade depends on its cost, its lifetime, the tariffs and, perhaps most of all, how long the network upgrade would take.
Read Pete's analysis: behind-the-meter battery storage, part 3: providing network capacity
Where in Europe does behind-the-meter solar and storage pay most?
Laura Hoffmann-Ostenhof
Central Europe Industry Lead
Not always where it's sunniest. Gridcog Central Europe Industry Lead Laura Hoffmann-Ostenhof modelled one supermarket, using 470 MWh a year on a 300 kW connection, in nine European markets with the latest 12 months of prices.
| Scenario | Top markets for annual savings |
|---|---|
| 300 kW of solar | Italy, about €50,000; Ireland, about €42,000; the UK third, from avoided non-commodity charges |
| Solar plus a 500 kWh / 2-hour battery | Portugal, about €60,000, over a third from avoided demand charges; then Italy and Ireland |
For solar alone, high solar yield and high daytime wholesale prices matter most. With a battery, tariffs and price patterns matter more than sunshine.
Read Laura's analysis: where's the best place in Europe for behind-the-meter solar and storage?
Who models behind-the-meter solar and storage with Gridcog?
Commercial and industrial solar and battery storage, UK
Sustain Commercial Solar
Uses Gridcog for over 80% of its client proposals, modelling self-consumption, wholesale trading and capacity market income. At Linear Plastics in Wales, it installed 450 kW of rooftop solar with a 2.5 MWh battery, and the client has since agreed to double the battery's capacity.
‘We've had Gridcog for a year now, and it's more than paid for itself.’
Clean energy partner for real estate, UK
Carb0n
Models solar, battery storage and demand flexibility at the asset level, starting with a retail outlet with 3.5 MW of solar car ports and a 4 MWh battery. It's exploring other asset classes too, such as operational real estate, where batteries aligned to peak grid demand capture savings without on-site generation.
Net zero consultancy, UK
Net Zero Advisory
Uses Gridcog to show public and private sector clients how solar and battery storage perform together, for peak shaving, smart charging and other behind-the-meter benefits.
Who models behind-the-meter projects in Gridcog?
Large energy users, property owners, solar and storage installers, energy suppliers and the consultants who advise them.
Frequently asked questions
On the customer's side of the site's main electricity meter. Behind-the-meter assets, such as rooftop solar, a C&I battery or EV chargers, sit alongside the site's own load, so they change what the site imports and exports. Front-of-meter assets, like a utility-scale battery or solar farm, connect to the grid on their own, with no site load behind them.
A power purchase agreement for energy generated on the customer's site, usually solar, billed at an agreed price for every kWh used behind the main meter. Newer behind-the-meter PPAs add a battery, which can serve the PPA in some hours and capture market value when it would otherwise sit idle. Gridcog models both, with the cashflows for the site and the PPA provider.
Yes, in more markets than before. Since 7 November 2024, P415 has let behind-the-meter assets in Great Britain trade in wholesale markets through an independent aggregator, separately from the site's supplier. In Australia, routes include Small Generation Aggregation, Wholesale Demand Response and taking child meters within embedded networks on-market.
It can be most of the value. In Pete Tickler's model of a supermarket battery in Maidstone, market access through P415, the Capacity Market and DNO flexibility generated about three times more value than using the battery to cut supply costs alone. At a Gridcog Unplugged panel in 2025, one speaker estimated that P415 was driving 30% to 40% more value for assets.
They can be one of the biggest drivers. Across a selection of 1,950 tariffs with demand charges in the Gridcog Library, from 119 networks in 28 countries, the median works out at about €47,000 per MW a year for a 1 MW load. The 90th percentile is about €159,000. The tariffs aren't directly comparable, but the spread shows what managing peak demand can be worth.
It depends on which value streams the battery can stack. At Gridcog's January 2025 Unplugged panel in London, one speaker put typical payback at six years or more, and argued that businesses should invest mainly when they also need resilience or more capacity. The panel said success depends on the right implementation strategy, route-to-market partners and cost of capital.
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Model your behind-the-meter project in Gridcog
Request a demo and we'll show you how Gridcog sizes solar and storage for your site and stacks every value stream.
The team behind Gridcog
Fabian Le Gay Brereton
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Previously co-founded Greensense, acquired by ERM Power (now Shell Energy).
Pete Tickler
Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder
Co-founded Greensense and led digital innovation at ERM Power (now Shell Energy).
Genna Boyle
Chief Commercial Officer & Head of EMEA
More than 10 years in energy strategy, trading and renewables, with senior roles at Battery Optimiser and Limejump.
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