From analysis to installation: How ZynexGroup builds a production-secure BESS solution

Once a company has mapped its critical processes, loads, and downtime cost, as covered elsewhere in this article series, the practical question follows: what happens next? The path from an initial conversation to an operational industrial BESS (battery energy storage system) consists of seven phases. For a production-security project, it is not the installation mechanics themselves that differ from any other BESS project, but how critical loads, reserved capacity, and any emergency power are woven into each phase.

This article walks through the seven phases with that focus. The general installation mechanics (switchboard work, electrician, authority approval) are mentioned only briefly, because they are the same for virtually all BESS projects. Emphasis is on the decisions that specifically concern production security.

Phase 1: Initial screening

The first phase clarifies whether there is a match at all between the company's situation and ZynexGroup's model. That requires a quick overview of four things: the size of the company's grid connection in amperes, the overall consumption pattern, how critical production is in relation to a power interruption, and whether some form of backup already exists.

Grid connection size is the first filter, because ZynexGroup's standard offering typically requires at least 400A, corresponding to a power rating of about 277 kW when converted using the fixed formula for a standard 400V three-phase system. Production criticality is the second filter, but at an overview level: a sense of whether production is sensitive to interruptions, not the detailed mapping that comes later. If emergency power equipment already exists, such as a generator or a UPS system, that is relevant to know from the start, because it affects what a possible BESS system should supplement rather than replace.

Phase 2: Data collection

If the screening is successful, the process moves on to more systematic data collection. The central data foundation is main meter data. In Denmark, electricity meters for larger consumers must be able to record offtake and delivery of electricity with a registration every 15 minutes or at shorter intervals, a data foundation detailed enough to show real power peaks and consumption patterns, not only annual totals.

Alongside metering data, information is collected about the company's electrical switchboards: how many there are, what capacity they have, and how close the existing load sits to that limit. If production security is part of the purpose, this is supplemented with a mapping of the concrete critical loads (which equipment, which circuits, and which switchboards supply the processes the company cannot afford to lose), plus operating hours and an overview of historical stops. That mapping is covered in depth elsewhere in this article series; here it enters as the data foundation that the technical design in phase 3 builds on.

Phase 3: Technical design

With data in place, the technical design can begin. For a standard system, that means determining the number of modules, the total power and capacity, the physical location, and how the system integrates into existing switchboards. It typically also includes a sub-meter (a separate electricity meter that isolates the system's own consumption and production from the rest of the site's consumption), which requires that the meter is suitable for the purpose, correctly placed, and installed by an authorised electrician. Finally, it is determined how the system communicates with both ZynexGroup's system and the company's own controls.

This is also where the decisive production-security decision is made: should part of the system be designed to function as emergency power, and should an STS (Static Transfer Switch) be included (a component that monitors the primary and an alternative power source and can switch a selected critical load between them if the primary supply fails)? That decision is, as covered in detail elsewhere in this article series, never automatic. It requires a concrete analysis of which loads are actually critical, how low their tolerance for interruption is, and whether the transition between power sources must happen without a noticeable interruption for the equipment. A standard BESS system does not deliver emergency power or UPS function unless the analysis has been completed and the design adapted for it.

If the company chooses STS or another emergency power function, the design of the critical loads and their reserved capacity is layered on top of the ordinary system design as a separate, more detailed track. ZynexGroup coordinates this part of the process and works with partners on the technical design on site. We do not ourselves deliver generator or UPS solutions; if they are part of the overall site picture, we coordinate them in the technical design.

Phase 4: Economic design

The technical design forms the basis for the economic design. In ZynexGroup's standard model, the customer receives a fixed contractual availability payment, calculated as the calculation basis (the amount used to set the monthly availability payment) divided by 72, corresponding to repayment of the calculation basis over 72 months if the agreement runs without suspension, reduction, or termination. The model assumes that the system's entire flexibility is available for commercial optimisation, because a durable battery business can rarely be carried by one market alone, but typically requires that capacity can be moved between the spot market, the intraday market, and the markets for system services, according to where it creates most value at the moment.

The calculation basis starts from the physical capacity the company has installed. A standard module typically has a capacity of about 261 kWh and a power rating of about 125 kW, and a project price of about 396,000 DKK excl. VAT covers in total the battery module, switchboard, contractor work, electrician, IoT, setup, metering, integration, and project coordination, paid with 40 percent on agreement and 60 percent on technical completion or at the latest at start of operation.

If part of the capacity was reserved in phase 3 for emergency power, STS, or other backup, that affects the commercial side of the design directly. The more capacity that is reserved for that kind of purpose, the less we can optimise commercially in the market, because the reserved share is no longer fully available on the same terms as the rest of the system. In practice that can mean that the calculation basis and the fixed monthly availability payment are adjusted proportionally in the particular agreement. There is no fixed percentage, no table, and no guaranteed model for it. The adjustment depends on the particular agreement and on how much the reserved capacity actually constrains commercial use of the system.

The other side of the economic design is the value of the downtime the reservation can help avoid, covered in detail elsewhere in this article series, and which can only be assessed when the company's own downtime cost per critical process is known. The economic design is therefore about holding three figures against each other: the full availability payment under the standard model, the potentially lower payment with reserved capacity, and the value of the downtime the reservation can mitigate for the critical loads it is sized for.

When we assess that installation is technically and economically realistic at a grid connection of at least 400A, it also includes that we offer a 6-year payback guarantee on BESS systems. That guarantee applies to the payment model in the standard model, regardless of whether part of the capacity is later reserved for production security.

Phase 5: Installation

The installation phase itself resembles what most industrial BESS projects go through, whether the system is used solely for commercial optimisation or also delivers reserved capacity: an electrician handles the electrical integration, a contractor handles switchboard work and any physical setup, and IoT equipment for monitoring and communication is installed, along with metering equipment and the tests that show the installation works as intended.

Relevant as an indicative timeframe is the sequence of the work itself. After an order, battery production and transport to Denmark typically begin, which normally takes around 90 days, while switchboard work and any foundation work proceed in parallel on site, so preparation is in place when the modules arrive. Once the modules are in place, the setup, testing, and approval themselves typically take around 7 days. These figures are indicative estimates for planning use, not guaranteed delivery dates, and the concrete timeline depends on the individual site's conditions and authority processing. If reserved capacity, STS, or another emergency power function was designed in phase 3, it is in this phase that the physical connection to the selected critical loads is established, according to the specification the separate technical design has set.

Phase 6: Commissioning

When the installation is physically in place, commissioning follows: a functional test of the system, a check that communication between the system, ZynexGroup's system, and any company controls works, and the start of operation itself, where the system begins to deliver the agreed function. This part is again common to virtually all BESS systems.

The one point specifically relevant to a production-security project is a possible backup test: if emergency power or STS has been designed for selected critical loads, that function should be tested concretely, not only assumed to work because it is installed. Energistyrelsen (the Danish Energy Agency) guidance on emergency power for businesses notes that emergency power equipment that is not tested regularly can turn out to have insufficient capacity or be defective precisely when it is needed, and that a test can at the same time reveal consumption that ought to be covered by backup but in practice is not. The backup test is therefore not a formality, but what shows whether the technical design from phase 3 actually delivers the intended function.

Phase 7: Operation and follow-up

Once the system is in operation, the process moves into an ongoing cycle of monitoring, reporting, maintenance, and, where relevant, adjustment of the strategy. Monitoring and reporting of the system's condition and performance is an operational task that applies to any BESS system, regardless of purpose, and maintenance follows the plan laid for the particular system.

What differs for a production-security system is that the strategy for reserved capacity is not a decision taken once and remaining correct forever. Critical loads and production patterns change when a company invests in new equipment, changes its processes, or grows. Energistyrelsen's guidance recommends that an organisation that has only defined part of its consumption as critical should regularly, for example once a year, assess whether all of the critical electricity consumption is still covered, because functions in a building can move over time, and new functions can be added. Beredskabsstyrelsen (the Danish Emergency Management Agency) guidance on holistic contingency planning notes the same principle from a broader angle: the mapping of critical functions should be updated when the organisation's circumstances change substantially. The design that was the right answer at commissioning is therefore not automatically the right answer three or five years later, and the follow-up phase is where that question should regularly be asked again.

ZynexGroup's approach to system assessment

We do not follow a fixed template for how much of the seven phases concerns production security, because it depends on the individual company's risk picture. For some customers, the standard model's commercial optimisation is the whole answer, and phases 3 and 4 are solely about sizing and pricing an ordinary system. For others, the data collection in phase 2 and the company's own risk analysis show that part of the capacity should be reserved, and then phases 3 and 4 become more composite, with a separate technical design for the critical loads and a correspondingly adjusted economic model.

What we contribute across all seven phases is to keep commercial optimisation and any production security separate as two deliberate choices, instead of letting one automatically follow from the other. If the analysis points toward emergency power, STS, or other backup, we coordinate the process and work with partners on the technical design and the installation itself on site, but the decision on how much to reserve always builds on the concrete mapping of critical loads and downtime cost that this article series has covered elsewhere.

Overall perspective

The seven phases from screening to operation are, in their basic structure, no different for a production-security project than for an ordinary BESS system. The difference lies in where in the process critical loads, reserved capacity, and any emergency power function are incorporated (typically in phases 3 and 4), and how that decision is subsequently tested in phase 6 and reassessed on an ongoing basis in phase 7. A company that enters the process with its own mapping of critical processes and loads already in place can therefore move faster through the seven phases, because the data foundation for the technical and economic design already exists.

An assessment of your facility's potential

If you are considering an industrial BESS system, and production security is part of the consideration, the natural starting point is the same data this article has described: your grid connection, your consumption pattern, and, if relevant, your mapping of critical loads and downtime cost. We use that type of data for an initial assessment of whether there is a match, and whether there is a concrete reason to proceed with the technical and economic design. You are welcome to contact us here.