94% Renewable Self-Consumption for Comansa: Savings and Energy Stability in the Industrial Sector

The Challenge

‍Comansa, a leading manufacturer of tower cranes, sought to enhance its competitiveness by reducing its dependence on the electrical grid and stabilizing its energy costs. Following the success of its first energy storage installation with BeePlanet in 2020, the company has undertaken three expansion phases to continue optimizing its self-consumption and strengthening its energy independence.

The metal manufacturing sector has high energy consumption, especially in energy-intensive processes such as machining, welding, and painting. In 2020, Comansa invested in a 773 kWp photovoltaic installation capable of covering 100% of the plant's maximum power. However, the variability of solar generation made it difficult to fully utilize the generated energy.

Moreover, storing surplus solar energy wasn't enough: it also had to be decided, at every moment, when to use that stored energy, when to charge from the grid, and when to prioritize self-consumption. A decision that constantly changes depending on the plant's consumption and electricity market conditions

Key Objectives of the Expansion:

• ‍Store excess solar energy and increase self-consumption.
• Reduce contracted power, optimizing fixed costs and covering peak power demands at certain times.
• Ensure energy stability against the volatility of the electricity market.
• Maximize the economic performance of every stored kWh, not just its capacity.

The solution

Modular storage and advanced energy management

We integrated 392 kWp of new photovoltaic capacity and also carried out a progressive expansion of the BeePlanet storage systems, reaching 1,258 kWh of battery storage capacity.

Smart management with the Optimizer

The installation is managed through BHive® EMS and its Optimizer layer, which makes automatic charge and discharge decisions based on the plant's consumption patterns and electricity market conditions at every moment, maximizing the use of stored energy compared to a static approach. This intelligence layer, built on BeePlanet's engineering experience in energy asset management, is activated entirely through software on the same installed hardware, with no additional works or plant downtime.

Savings weren't a one-off spike, they held and grew

With a static strategy, the installation saved 11-22% compared to the cost without a battery. After activating BeePlanet's dynamic Optimizer via software, savings kept climbing month over month, stabilizing above 34%, with no construction work or plant downtime.