Choosing a project type
The four ways a plant can be built around the battery, and what each one enables or disables in the input tabs.
On the 📂 Data tab, a radio group sets the plant's topology — which generation sources feed the battery, if any. The choice changes which inputs are active across the rest of the input notebook. The default, ticked at launch, is 3. Solar + Wind + BESS.
The four project types
| Project type | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1. Solar + BESS | Wind is pinned to 0 MW; the Wind sizing, CAPEX and O&M inputs are disabled. |
| 2. Wind + BESS | Solar is pinned to 0 MW; the Solar sizing, CAPEX and O&M inputs are disabled. |
| 3. Solar + Wind + BESS (default) | Both sources are active. |
| 4. Standalone BESS (grid-charged) | Solar and Wind are both pinned to 0 MW, with their sizing, CAPEX and O&M inputs disabled; the generation-profile loader on the 📂 Data tab is disabled too — the app builds a one-year, 15-minute calendar internally instead of reading a file; the Peak-Shift dispatch checkbox is disabled and forced off. |
Generation-charged Peak-Shift dispatch
Beneath the radio group, a checkbox turns on Peak-Shift dispatch — off by default, and disabled for Standalone BESS. Its exact label follows the topology you picked:
| Project type | Checkbox label |
|---|---|
| 1. Solar + BESS | Solar-charged Peak-Shift dispatch |
| 2. Wind + BESS | Wind-charged Peak-Shift dispatch |
| 3. Solar + Wind + BESS | Solar+Wind-charged Peak-Shift dispatch |
With it ticked, generation charges the battery first, and any surplus beyond that is exported straight away. The battery only discharges inside the Peak window you set on the ⏰ Peak tab, to meet the Contracted Capacity (CC — the firm load the plant is obligated to serve) there — outside that window there is no delivery obligation, and so no shortfall penalty, whatever the battery is doing.
Left off, the ordinary Peak/Off-Peak dispatch applies instead: on Peak hours the battery discharges first and any excess generation then charges it; on Off-Peak hours the battery charges first and the remainder of generation meets the CC.