What's the payback on solar + battery for a commercial building?

Payback stacks in layers. First, demand-charge savings: the battery clips the fifteen-minute peaks that set the biggest line on a commercial bill. Second, incentives: the federal ITC and California's SGIP both shorten the timeline. Third, active dispatch: run in CAISO wholesale markets, the same battery earns roughly 2.5× its autopilot value (illustratively, about $95K rising to $235K per MW-year). Every building's number is different; the analysis pins yours down.

Per MW-year, actively managed, vs ~$95K on autopilot

Illustrative: 1 MW / 4-hour battery in CAISO

Where do the savings actually come from?

Under NEM 3.0, export pays pennies, so the system is designed for self-consumption: solar serves the building first, and the battery absorbs the midday surplus. The battery then does two jobs on the bill: shifting that stored solar into the expensive evening hours, and peak-shaving the demand spikes that set your demand charges for the whole month.

The federal ITC applies to the system itself, and California's SGIP pays a rebate on the storage. MYNT forecasts both at design and administers the applications. The incentives are engineered into the payback, not bolted on after.

annual value per MW on autopilot: the demand-charge and self-consumption savings you already keep.

of new revenue per MW-year from dispatch: capacity payments (~$72K), energy arbitrage (~$45K), ancillary services (~$22K).

per MW-year actively managed with AMPS, roughly 2.5× the battery’s autopilot value.

ILLUSTRATIVE: 1 MW / 4-HOUR BATTERY IN CAISO, RECENT MARKET CONDITIONS. YOUR ANALYSIS PINS DOWN THE REAL NUMBERS.

What does active dispatch add?

A battery chasing bill savings alone works about 22% of the year. Dispatched against live CAISO prices by MYNT's AMPS platform, utilization climbs to roughly 52%, and the idle hours start earning: capacity payments (~$72K), energy arbitrage (~$45K), and ancillary services (~$22K), about $140K of new revenue per MW-year on top of the ~$95K in savings you already keep.

There's no upfront cost for the dispatch layer: MYNT is paid from the new revenue it creates. Your behind-the-meter savings always get first call on the battery.