From energy-flow analysis to building permit, in three phases
`[CLIENT-OK NEEDED FROM LUCA]`
A Ticino-based distribution system operator engaged GridSphere to evaluate a battery energy storage system at one of its operational sites. The need has evolved across three phases of advisory work and is now moving toward construction, with potential BESS supply and platform hosting to follow. (fact-base §3.1)
The client
A distribution system operator with a network covering an Italian-speaking Swiss canton. The site under evaluation is one of the operator's own operational facilities - the BESS would sit behind the meter on the site, with potential front-of-meter participation once the asset is operational. (anonymised per client-references-policy.md)
The engagement opened around a question every DSO planner asks before a capital commitment: does the BTM business case stand on its own, and what FTM optionality is available on top? The order matters - if the BTM economics do not qualify the project, the FTM stack rarely rescues it.
The arc - five phases
Phase 1 - Energy-flow analysis
15-minute load-profile review of the operational site. Demand-charge composition broken out. On-site generation overlap with consumption. Baseline business-as-usual cost. Run on SIMULA so the data feeds the dispatch simulation directly.
Phase 2 - BTM and FTM grid-service valuation
BTM scenarios on SIMULA: peak shaving (reducing the highest 15-minute power draw), demand-charge reduction, optimised self-consumption against on-site generation. FTM scenarios: ancillary-service participation (aFRR - automatic frequency restoration reserve, mFRR - manual frequency restoration reserve) and wholesale arbitrage. Both stacks modelled together so the interaction effects (capacity reservation reduces dispatch availability and vice versa) surface in a single sensitivity view.
Phase 3 - Building-permit support (in progress)
DSO coordination, permit documentation, technical review of OEM offers. The phase is structured so the deliverables feed the permit process directly - that is what compresses the typical permitting timeline.
Phase 4 - Potential BESS supply with a local EPC
A future step. The BESS would be sourced through GridSphere's Supply line and delivered with a local EPC partner. Supply tickets in this size range arrive platform-native - EMS compatibility and telemetry hooks already in place - so no retrofit is needed when the asset later joins the operating layer. (positioning brief §3.3)
Phase 5 - Potential platform hosting
A future step, conditional on COD (commercial operation date). Once the asset is operational, the GridSphere Platform takes the dispatch optimisation, the trader access, and the reporting against the original business case the asset arrived with from SIMULA. (fact-base §2.5, §4.1)
Deliverables on the engagement
A technical-financial report with the SIMULA dispatch simulations and the full revenue stack. An executive presentation of the findings. A sensitivity-modelled Excel of the underlying business case. An implementation roadmap with milestones and KPIs. Tender specifications for the procurement step. (fact-base §2.2)
What we learned
Modelling the BTM stack first and the FTM stack second is the right order for a Swiss DSO operational site. The BTM economics are what qualify the project; FTM optionality is the upside, not the foundation. Inverting the order risks producing a business case that depends on revenue lines that may not clear in any given year.
The phase-3 timeline is the long pole - DSO coordination and planning routinely dominate the schedule. Structuring the advisory deliverables to feed the permitting process directly, rather than handing them off to a separate permitting workflow, is what compresses it.
Read the Advisory deliverables →
A strategic account
[CLIENT-OK NEEDED FROM LUCA] - category claim only; specific pipeline figures (six deals; >35 MW; CHF 15M from elevator pitch) are not on this page until Luca approves and the two source-document framings are reconciled. (fact-base §0 #7, §3.1)
A single advisory mandate has opened a multi-engagement relationship inside the same network. The land-and-expand pattern, on the DSO segment.
How the case fits the funnel
SIMULA takes BESS projects from uncertain to bankable. ec-storage takes them from bankable to profitable. (platform-terms.md)
The Ticino engagement covers the first half of that funnel today and is positioned for the second half once the asset is operational. The resulting asset stays on the GridSphere Platform for its operating life - "L'asset risultante resta sulla piattaforma GridSphere". (gridsphere-brand-voice.md house phrase; fact-base §4.1)
See how GridSphere works across the funnel → - What ec-storage does once the asset is operational →
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