Peak Shaving Battery Systems
LiFePO4 battery energy storage systems that discharge during your highest-demand intervals — flattening load peaks and cutting the demand charges that dominate commercial and industrial electric bills.
Turn Peak Demand Into Savings
Demand charges — billed on your single highest power draw each month — can account for 30–70% of a commercial or industrial electric bill. A peak shaving battery system stores low-cost, off-peak energy and discharges it precisely when your load spikes, capping the metered demand and slashing those charges.
ChargeX peak shaving systems run on lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4). Because peak shaving cycles the battery every day, cycle life is what makes or breaks the economics — and LiFePO4’s 6,000+ cycles with minimal degradation deliver a durable, 15–20 year asset with the safest thermal profile in mainstream lithium.
Intelligent controls monitor your load in real time and dispatch automatically to hold demand below your target threshold. The same system can stack time-of-use arbitrage, on-site solar self-consumption, backup power, and demand-response revenue for a faster payback.
A useful RFQ includes interval meter data (or 15-minute peaks), the utility tariff, and whether solar is already on site. We model demand-charge savings before locking MW/MWh — not after.
Front-of-meter utility projects belong on the utility-scale hub. This page stays behind-the-meter peak shaving so intents do not cannibalize each other.
Peak Shaving Economics
How Peak Shaving Works
Demand Charge Reduction
Cap the metered peak that drives your bill.
Time-of-Use Arbitrage
Charge cheap, discharge expensive.
Stacked Value
Layer multiple revenue and savings streams.
Ideal Sites for Peak Shaving
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a peak shaving battery system?
A peak shaving battery system is a battery energy storage system (BESS) that discharges during a facility’s highest-demand periods to reduce the peak power drawn from the grid. By flattening those spikes, it lowers demand charges — often the largest, most volatile line item on a commercial or industrial electric bill.
How does peak shaving reduce electricity costs?
Utilities bill large customers partly on their single highest 15- or 30-minute demand interval each month. A battery charged during off-peak hours and discharged during those peaks caps the metered demand, cutting demand charges. Many sites also stack time-of-use energy arbitrage and demand-response revenue on top of the demand savings.
What size battery do I need for peak shaving?
Sizing depends on the height and duration of your demand peaks and your load profile. A typical commercial system targets the delta between average and peak demand for the hours the peak persists. Share your interval meter data and our engineering team will size the LiFePO4 system and model payback.
Why use LiFePO4 for peak shaving?
Peak shaving cycles a battery daily, so cycle life dominates economics. LiFePO4 delivers 6,000+ cycles with minimal degradation and the safest thermal profile of mainstream lithium chemistries — ideal for a daily-cycling asset expected to last 15–20 years.
Can peak shaving be combined with solar or backup power?
Yes. The same BESS can pair with on-site solar for self-consumption, provide backup power during outages, and participate in demand-response programs — maximizing the return on a single installation.
Model Your Demand Charge Savings
Send us your interval meter data and utility tariff — our engineering team will size a LiFePO4 peak shaving system and project your demand charge savings and payback.
Peak shaving only works if the interval is real
Demand charges are a tariff, not a battery feature. The pack has to cover the hours your bill actually uses to set the peak, and it has to recharge before the next peak window.
Bring the bill, not a slogan
We need the demand interval (15 minutes is common, not universal), the peak kilowatts you want to cut, and how often that peak happens. A battery sized for a nameplate inverter with no interval data is a guess.
Load shifting and time-of-use arbitrage are the same hardware only when the tariff and the cycle count say so. Those are different control setpoints. Say which one the savings model uses.
Recharge is part of the size
If the peak window is late afternoon and solar is already committed to the building, the battery may not refill in time for a second peak. The quote has to show the recharge path: PV, grid, or both, and the charger current the service can spare.
48V and higher DC stacks show up here because the powers are past a residential 12V bank. The inverter or PCS has to be one your electrician can interconnect. Send that model if it is already chosen.
What we will not print
We do not print a savings percentage. Your tariff, your load shape, and your interconnection costs own that number.
ChargeX manufactures in the US. Transport paperwork is UN38.3. Government bids can cite CAGE 93CZ2 and DUNS 109774429. Other listings (UL, IEC, a MIL-STD dash number) are per SKU — ask and we send the PDF we have.
Questions we get on this use case
Is peak shaving the same as backup?
No. Backup is hours of a critical-load panel. Peak shaving is clipping a demand interval. A pack sized for one can fail the other.
What should facilities send?
Twelve months of interval data if you have it, the tariff name, the kilowatts you want removed from the peak, and the electrical one-line if the switchgear is already designed.
Where do utility plants go?
The utility-scale storage page. This page is behind-the-meter facility peaks.