Case Study · Commercial Storage

2 MW Rooftop Solar + 600 kWh Storage for a Plastics Manufacturing Facility

A 30,000 m² industrial facility in Guangdong Province replaced grid-only power with a hybrid PV-plus-storage system, using BeSafe H50Pro three-phase battery cabinets to capture midday solar and discharge it during evening peak demand.

2 MWRooftop PV Capacity
600 kWhBeSafe H50Pro Storage
10H50Pro Cabinets
38%Annual Grid Reduction
4.6 yrProject Payback

The Customer's Challenge

The facility operates injection-molding and extrusion lines on a three-shift schedule. Daytime load is steady at around 800 kW, but evening production peaks at 1.4 MW, falling squarely in the regional utility's peak demand window where capacity charges apply.

The facility's monthly electricity bill was dominated by two components: peak demand charges (averaging USD 18,000 per month) and total kWh consumption (USD 42,000 per month). The plant manager's mandate was to reduce both — without disrupting production schedules or accepting unreliable backup power.

Rooftop space was available: 30,000 m² of south-facing metal deck with no shading obstructions. The decision to add storage came from a financial analysis showing that solar alone would be wasted — midday solar production at 1.6 MW was being clipped or exported at low feed-in tariffs. Storing the excess and time-shifting it to the evening peak dramatically improved the project economics.

Why BeSafe H50Pro

The integrator evaluated three commercial-storage vendors. BeSafe was selected for three reasons:

96 kWPV input per cabinet — best in class at the time of evaluation
IP54Outdoor-rated cabinet — no indoor HVAC room required
C3Anti-corrosion finish for coastal Guangdong humidity
10Cabinets paralleled for 500 kW / 600 kWh total

Installation was performed during a scheduled 14-day production pause in Q3 2025. The 10 H50Pro cabinets were anchor-bolted to a concrete pad adjacent to the rooftop solar inverter station. AC cabling ran in cable tray from the cabinets to the main switchgear room (35 m run). PV DC cabling from the rooftop combiner boxes landed directly on the cabinets' built-in MPPT inputs — no external combiner required.

System Configuration

ComponentSpecificationQuantity
PV Modules580 W bifacial mono3,450 panels
Total PV Capacity2.0 MWp DC
PV InvertersString inverters, 50 kW each40 units
Battery CabinetsBeSafe H50Pro (50 kW / 61.44 kWh each)10 cabinets
Total Storage500 kW AC / 614.4 kWh
Battery ChemistryLiFePO4, 6,000 cycles / 70% retention
EMS PlatformBeSafe Cloud (peak shaving + self-consumption modes)1 subscription
Grid ConnectionThree-phase 400 VAC, 1,000 kVA transformer
Backup Runtime (Full Load)~45 minutes at 800 kW site load

Operating Modes

The BeSafe EMS runs three operating modes across the day, switching automatically based on the facility's load profile and the regional time-of-use tariff schedule:

06:00 – 09:00
Self-Consumption. Morning solar output is used directly for the 600 kW ramp-up of the production lines. Battery remains at minimum SOC for evening peak use.
09:00 – 16:00
Solar Charging. PV output exceeds facility load. Excess energy charges the 10 H50Pro cabinets from ~30% to 95% SOC by mid-afternoon.
16:00 – 22:00
Peak Shaving. Cabinet output (up to 500 kW) is added to grid import to keep facility peak demand below the 1,000 kW threshold. This is the highest-value period under the regional TOU tariff.
22:00 – 06:00
Standby. Cabinets rest at ~30% SOC reserved for the next day's morning ramp. Grid import returns to baseline.

Results — First 12 Months

2,180,000 kWhAnnual solar generation
38%Reduction in grid-supplied kWh
54%Reduction in peak demand charges
USD 312,000First-year electricity cost reduction
4.6 yrPayback period (against USD 1.44 M total system cost)
99.7%Cabinet availability (no unplanned downtime)

The peak-shaving value was higher than originally projected because the regional utility raised capacity charges mid-year. The system continues to operate in peak-shaving + self-consumption hybrid mode and is monitored remotely via BeSafe Cloud. The plant manager is now considering a Phase 2 expansion to cover the night shift, which would require 4–6 additional H50Pro cabinets.

Customer Feedback

"We had been told by several vendors that peak shaving required indoor batteries with full air conditioning — which would have eaten most of the savings. BeSafe's outdoor-rated H50Pro cabinets changed the math. We saved USD 312,000 in the first year and we haven't even touched the night shift yet." — Plant Engineering Manager, Guangdong plastics facility

Project Notes & Lessons

For integrators considering similar projects: the BeSafe H50Pro cabinet form factor accepts PV input directly, which simplified the AC and DC architecture considerably. A key planning step was confirming that the existing 1,000 kVA transformer could absorb the cabinet discharge (500 kW) without exceeding nameplate capacity during the peak window — this was a simple thermal study.

For projects with night-shift loads, BeSafe engineering recommends doubling the cabinet count to extend the discharge window. The Phase 2 expansion is currently in engineering review.

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