Energy Storage for the Precision Electronics Industry: The Piher Sensing Systems Case Study

The energy challenge in precision manufacturing

In the high-precision electronics industry, energy is more than an overhead cost—it is a critical input for the production process. The facility faced three major challenges::

1. ‍High Energy Costs: Precision manufacturing processes concentrate significant electrical loads during peak tariff periods. Demand spikes were driving up power capacity charges, resulting in inflated energy bills.‍
2. Operational Risk: Production lines require absolute electrical stability. Any fluctuation in power quality directly impacts process yields and the quality standards of the final product.‍
3. Underutilized Self-Consumption: The plant already had a photovoltaic (PV) installation. However, without storage, surplus energy was being fed back into the grid, while expensive energy had to be purchased during peak hours.

👉 An inefficient system.

The objective was not just to cut costs, but to protect critical processes and turn energy into a business edge.

The solution

The response to the challenge was a BESS system designed, integrated, and operated by BeePlanet, featuring hardware from Sungrow (PowerStack ST229), a global leader in the commercial and industrial segment.

The partnership between BeePlanet and Sungrow combines the best of both worlds: the robustness and reliability of a Tier-1 storage system manufacturer with the operational intelligence, field expertise, and experience of a company like BeePlanet, which specializes in the Spanish and European industrial markets.

Hardware: Sungrow PowerStack ST229

• 4 units
• 440 kW power
• 916 kWh capacity
• 2-hour discharge configuration

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Software: BHive® EMS (BeePlanet)

Hardware is only one part of the solution. The real differentiator lies in the system's intelligence.

BHive® acts as the brain of the installation:

• Analyzes consumption in real time
• Anticipates demand peaks
• Automatically decides when to charge and discharge
• Optimizes based on prices, self-consumption, and operating conditions

All of this autonomously and without intervention from the plant team.

This is not a generic EMS; it is a solution developed by BeePlanet based on more than 170 industrial projects.

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Key business-oriented benefits

• ‍Peak shaving: power demand reduction: The system identifies and trims demand peaks. The impact is immediate and measurable in every billing cycle.‍
• Maximizing photovoltaic self-consumption: Solar energy that cannot be consumed at the time of production is stored and released during periods of higher internal demand. Storage decouples generation from consumption, increasing the percentage of actual self-consumption and reducing grid dependency.‍
• Resilience and process continuity: With 916 kWh available, the plant has an energy buffer that ensures the continuity of critical processes in the event of supply contingencies.‍
• Measurable decarbonization: Every kWh of renewable energy stored and consumed internally reduces what is imported from the grid. This means the system contributes directly to the facility's carbon footprint reduction goals.

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Storage as a competitive advantage

A well-designed, well-integrated, and well-operated BESS is not an energy efficiency measure. It is production infrastructure.

• ‍‍It reduces what you pay.
• It protects what you manufacture.
• It adds value to what you generate.