A factory in Guadalajara, Mexico, had incorporated solar panels, but still faced a problem that conditioned its activity: micro-power outages forced the welding machines and other equipment to stop, interrupting processes that could not always be resumed immediately.
The solution required approximately four months of pre-engineering and culminated, in August 2026, with the installation of a 150 kW power and 261 kWh capacity BESS system, designed to provide backup in the event of supply interruptions.
However, behind that decision was a question that went beyond the needs of a single factory: how to determine if an investment in energy storage is profitable for an industry or business, and what factors should be considered before incorporating batteries .
In that sense, for Sergio Rodríguez , Director of Technology for LATAM at Solis for Latin America, during the program"It Had to Be Said and It Was Said " on Energía Estratégica , the value of these solutions does not depend solely on how much electricity they can store, but also on the operational characteristics of the client, the tariff charges and the economic consequences of an interruption.
“Investing in storage is not an expense, but a long-term investment that, as a company, makes me more competitive and much more reliable in my daily production,” he stated.
The calculation that determines the profitability of a BESS
According to the executive, conventional photovoltaic projects can achieve investment recovery periods of between two and three years , while those installations that incorporate storage can have periods of five to six years .
However, he clarified that these values change according to the characteristics of each operation, especially when the costs derived from power outages are incorporated.
In certain industrial processes, a power outage of just one hour can compromise practically an entire day of production, due to the time required to restart the facilities.
"You practically lose a day because of a power outage of maybe an hour," he exemplified.
But energy backup is not the only variable that can justify the investment.
The specialist identified two additional applications: load shifting and peak shaving , which are especially relevant for companies subject to time-differentiated tariffs or charges associated with contracted power.
In these cases, batteries allow electricity to be stored when it is available at a lower cost and used later, or to reduce the maximum demand recorded by an installation.
Cost trends are also altering the economic conditions of these projects. According to a survey by the Brazilian consulting firm Greener , the implementation cost of BESS systems between 500 and 1000 kWh fell by 53% between 2020 and 2025 , dropping from 3.97 to 1.88 reais per Wh. The firm estimates a cost of 1.73 reais per Wh by 2026.
Commercial expansion accompanies this trend. In Brazil, manufacturers and suppliers registered orders for 730 MWh of storage in 2025 , a volume equivalent to that sold during the previous five years. Between January and March 2026 alone, another 504 MWh were added, reaching approximately 1.9 GWh of systems sold or contracted .
Although these figures cover different applications and do not exclusively represent commercial and industrial installations, they show the acceleration of a market in which the costs of technology are beginning to facilitate new business models.
Which sectors are driving consultations in Latin America?
Demand also shows significant differences between countries and economic activities.
In Mexico , Solis identifies inquiries coming from metallurgical industries, aluminum manufacturers, supermarkets, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
In Chile and Peru , one of the main sectors interested is mining, while in Argentina Rodríguez highlighted the potential of the agro-industry.
In the Dominican Republic, opportunities are emerging related to small businesses that require smaller-scale backup solutions. Bolivia, meanwhile, is registering increased interest in photovoltaic energy combined with storage in a context of energy supply difficulties.
According to the executive, Chile is currently Solis's largest sales volume market in C&I storage , although Mexico also presents significant opportunities due to the diversity of industrial applications.
This growth finds potential support in the expansion of distributed generation. In Mexico, statistics from the National Energy Commission (CNE) recorded 5,164.98 MW of distributed photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2025 , associated with 600,368 applications processed.
Jalisco, the state where the Guadalajara project was developed, led the national deployment of distributed generation with 747.67 MW and 99,949 applications , considering the set of technologies registered under that scheme.
Engineering, a prerequisite for the business to function
Rodríguez emphasized that profitability is also conditioned by the size and selection of the equipment.
A company that needs backup during micro-outages does not necessarily require the same solution as another interested in shifting several hours of electricity consumption.
For this reason, Solis is committed to hybrid systems and modular architectures that allow capacity to be adjusted to the characteristics of each establishment, from small commercial facilities to larger projects.
The company also identifies opportunities for solutions that can reach approximately 15 MW of power through modular configurations , approaching the boundary between the C&I segment and larger-scale applications.
However, the executive argued that technology selection should begin with an analysis of customer needs and not solely with the product offer.
This stage involves manufacturers, distributors, EPC companies and integrators, whose participation allows defining the electrical characteristics, installation and commissioning.
The Guadalajara experience is an example of this process: a company that already had solar generation and had to evaluate for several months what type of storage it needed.
For Rodríguez, the challenge for the C&I sector will be precisely to translate the energy needs of each industry into technically viable and financially justifiable projects , in a market where applications and business models are still evolving.