How commercial & industrial businesses can build a smarter energy strategy with solar and BESS

Most Indian businesses do not have a single energy strategy. Instead, they have a series of energy decisions made years apart—a rooftop solar plant approved in 2021, an open-access contract signed in 2023, a diesel generator replaced in 2019, or a tariff category that has not been reviewed since the connection was sanctioned. Each decision may have made sense individually, but together they can leave significant value on the table.

Energy is now too important and volatile a component of most C&I cost structures to be managed this way. A coherent strategy should be built in layers.

Layer One: Know Your Load Before You Buy

Every energy strategy should begin with one year of interval consumption data, broken down by time-of-day, season and shift.

This shows the share of the bill coming from demand versus energy charges, consumption in the surcharged evening window versus the rebated daytime window, maximum-demand patterns and whether contracted demand matches actual usage.

In Maharashtra, this analysis also reveals exposure to slot-wise banking, where commercial and industrial solar credits earned during 09:00–17:00 can only be redeemed in that window, as well as the Grid Support Charge applicable to net-metering consumers above 10 kW.

Layer Two: Take the Low-Cost Savings First

Before investing in new assets, businesses should address three areas.

First, right-size contracted demand. Maharashtra’s HT demand charges are rising from ₹600 to ₹750 per kVA per month, making annual demand audits worthwhile.

Second, shift flexible loads such as batch processes, HVAC pre-cooling, water pumping and EV charging into the daytime window. The rebate is 15% from April to September and 25% from October to March, increasing to 20% and 30% respectively from FY 2027–28.

Third, improve power factor. Since Maharashtra bills HT consumers on kVAh, poor power factor can increase costs across the year.

These measures can reduce the size of the storage system required later, improving its economics.

Layer Three: Procure Renewable Generation in Tiers

Rooftop solar should generally be maximised first because it avoids wheeling, transmission and cross-subsidy charges, although roof area limits capacity.

Open access can cover the remaining requirement. India added close to 6 GW of solar open-access capacity in H1 2026, up 42% year-on-year, with Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra among the leading states. Businesses should evaluate the landed cost, including wheeling, cross-subsidy, additional surcharge, banking and scheduling charges, rather than focusing only on the headline PPA rate.

Green tariffs and round-the-clock renewable contracts from distribution companies represent another emerging option for businesses seeking clean power without directly owning generation assets.

Layer Four: Use Storage as the Connecting Layer

BESS connects generation with the tariff structure. It can convert exported solar into self-consumed energy, shift electricity from cheaper hours to expensive periods, reduce maximum demand and cover short outages.

Storage should be sized against the actual load profile. For new renewable projects above 100 kW in Maharashtra, storage of at least 50% of project capacity for two hours is now a connectivity requirement, increasing to four hours for projects commissioned from FY 2030–31. This should be treated as a starting point, not necessarily the optimal system size.

Layer Five: Choose Ownership Deliberately

Businesses can consider capex ownership, operating leases, storage-as-a-service or group captive structures. Ownership can provide higher lifetime returns and accelerated depreciation but carries technology risk. Service models reduce upfront investment and transfer performance risk, although returns may be lower.

Solar and storage do not necessarily need to follow the same commercial structure.

Layer Six: Govern the Strategy

A named person should own energy costs across procurement and operations. Businesses should review contracted demand annually and re-model the portfolio whenever tariffs or policies change.

The timing is favourable. Maharashtra has published HT tariff trajectories through FY 2029–30, providing greater visibility for planning. Meanwhile, C&I renewable capacity in India is projected to rise from 32 GW in 2025 towards 100 GW by 2032, with C&I storage potentially growing more than tenfold to 31 GWh.

The businesses that build their energy strategy now will be better positioned to manage costs, optimise investments and secure capacity before the market becomes more crowded.