Commercial storage: costs, subsidies and viability

Economics

What makes up the value of a battery

A commercial battery earns its money in several ways at once. How large each contribution is depends on your business — which is why we calculate every system individually instead of advertising with flat figures.

1. Lower demand charges (peak shaving)

   On metered tariffs, the highest quarter-hour of the year defines a substantial share of grid costs. A battery caps those peaks — often the single biggest lever.

2. Self-consumption instead of export

   Self-generated PV power is much cheaper than grid power, and the feed-in price is much lower than the purchase price. Every stored kilowatt-hour you use yourself earns that difference.

3. Security of supply

   Avoided outage costs (spoiled goods, production standstill, data loss) are hard to generalise — but for many businesses they are the decisive argument.

4. Future readiness

   Dynamic tariffs and flexible grid fees reward businesses that can shift loads — a battery is the prerequisite.

Subsidies

The Austrian subsidy landscape

Investments in PV and storage are subsidised at several levels. Important: apply before purchase and delivery as a rule, and not all programmes can be combined.

• Federal: subsidies under the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) via oem-ag.at
• State of Salzburg: energy-department programmes for businesses and farmers — salzburg.gv.at
• Municipalities: some offer their own grants — ask your municipal administration
• We run the subsidy check as part of the viability analysis

Buy storage or keep exporting?

The frequent question “buy a battery or keep feeding everything in?” can only be answered seriously with your numbers: it depends on your electricity price, your feed-in price, your load profile and system size. That is exactly the calculation we set up transparently — with every assumption disclosed, so you can follow the reasoning.