Lower demand charges
The battery discharges when your load crosses a set cap and recharges overnight. Every kW shaved saves $13.30 a month on Large General Service and $5.83 on Medium.
Commercial battery storage · British Columbia
Cut your demand charge. Get paid to help the grid.
Onda designs, delivers and operates battery storage for BC businesses. BC Hydro's Energy Storage Incentive can cover up to 80% of eligible project cost when your battery joins its demand response program.
Free preliminary study from your MyHydro data, reviewed by a BC professional engineer.
Peak day load, kW Illustrative site
Served by the gridServed by the battery
-120 kWBilled peak
$19,152Demand savings a year
80%Max ESI coverage
Up to 80%of eligible project cost covered by the Energy Storage Incentive
$13.30/kWmonthly demand charge on BC Hydro Large General Service
25 kWminimum battery capacity to qualify
10 yearsof demand response service to BC Hydro in return
01 · How it works
How a battery lowers your bill
BC Hydro bills medium and large businesses for their single highest demand each month. One hour of compressors, ovens or chargers running together sets that charge for the whole month. A battery covers those spikes so the meter never sees them.
Keep critical loads running
Grid-forming inverters carry refrigeration, servers and controls through an outage with no transfer gap. You choose which circuits stay on.
Funded by BC Hydro
Enrol the battery in BC Hydro's demand response program and the Energy Storage Incentive pays for most of it. Onda handles the application, connectivity and reporting.
02 · BC Hydro Energy Storage Incentive
The incentive makes the math work
BC Hydro pays the lesser of $10,000 per nominated kW, $2,500 per kWh of capacity, or 80% of eligible cost. For almost every commercial project, 80% is the number that applies.
In return, BC Hydro can dispatch the battery for up to 4 hours, twice a day, at least 5 hours apart, for 10 years. The battery powers your own building during an event, so nothing is exported.
Worked example · Large General ServiceIllustrative
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Battery | 250 kW · 1,000 kWh |
| Installed cost (assumed) | $600,000 |
| Energy Storage Incentive, 80% | -$480,000 |
| Your net cost | $120,000 |
| Peak shaved, 412 to 292 kW | 120 kW |
| Demand savings, 120 kW × $13.30 × 12 | $19,152 / yr |
| Simple payback | 6.3 years |
Example only. Your study uses your own interval data, rate and quoted equipment. BC Hydro rates and program terms as published, October 2026.
03 · Technology
All-in-one cabinets. Onda controls.
We design around liquid-cooled, grid-forming, all-in-one cabinets in the 400 kWh class. Onda adds the controls, the BC Hydro connection and the engineering. Every BC project uses equipment listed to UL 9540.
The cabinet
~400 kWhper cabinet
Scalablecabinets in parallel to MWh
-30 to 55 °Coperating range
Grid-formingseamless backup
Battery, inverter, cooling, fire detection and suppression in one outdoor enclosure, pad-mounted next to your service.
The Onda layer
- FEED Engine sizing. Your metered load simulated against real equipment before you sign.
- Peak control. Forecast-driven dispatch that holds the cap and keeps reserve for BC Hydro events.
- Utility connectivity. IEEE 2030.5 link to BC Hydro, with the telemetry the program requires.
- Operations. Monitoring, warranty management and an annual savings report for 10 years.
04 · Virtual power plants
Many small batteries, one power plant
A virtual power plant links batteries at hundreds of businesses so the utility can call on them together, like a single plant. When demand on the grid peaks, BC Hydro signals the fleet and each battery powers its own building for a few hours. The grid avoids new peaking supply; you get the incentive.
- 1Your batteryShaves your peaks every day and holds reserve for grid events.
- 2Onda platformAggregates the fleet, reports state of charge and schedules recharging.
- 3BC Hydro dispatchCalls events of up to 4 hours. Your building runs on the battery, then recharges overnight.
05 · Projects
Our first sites are being selected now
Onda is choosing its first commercial sites in the Lower Mainland. Case studies with measured savings will publish here as each one is commissioned. These are the sites where storage pays back fastest.
Cold storage and food processing
Compressor starts set sharp peaks, and refrigeration is the load you cannot lose in an outage.
Manufacturing and workshops
Short bursts from presses, kilns and welders drive demand charges far above average use.
EV fleet depots
Chargers starting together at shift change can double a site peak. A battery flattens it without a service upgrade.
Offices, retail and multi-tenant
HVAC on hot afternoons sets the peak. Storage cuts it and keeps elevators and lighting up in an outage.