Optimising a Multi-tenant Site with Solar and Battery
Next Green Group demonstrates how exposing commercial batteries to the wholesale spot market within an embedded network allows multi-tenant facilities to capitalise on electricity market changes and increase asset returns by up to 100%.
Key Insights
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Revenue Multiplier
Standard commercial energy involves midday solar offsets and simple peak shaving. The real multiplier happens when assets are actively managed within an embedded network to drive down the total cost to serve the site.
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Monetising Volatility
Upstream child meters allow you to treat a BESS as an independent tenant. You can charge during negative pricing events and discharge when wholesale spot prices peak.
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Yield Amplification
This advanced metering approach can increase financial returns by 25% to 100% compared to standard retail rates.
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Upcoming Shift
The upcoming Flexible Trading Adjustment Rule will soon unlock this wholesale strategy for single-tenant commercial sites across Australia.
Rethinking Energy for Multi-Tenant Facilities
Smaller commercial tenants are often price takers. Their low load profiles mean they lack the negotiating power to secure competitive energy rates.
Next Green Group works with embedded network operators to change this dynamic. We use solar to reduce midday consumption and batteries to manage afternoon demand. This significantly reduces the cost to serve the entire site. It creates a win-win where operators pass tangible savings to their tenants while improving the property’s yield.
Unlocking the Wholesale Spot Market
The true commercial value of this site is found in the metering. We installed a child meter upstream from each 110kW battery at this facility.
Treating the battery as a standalone tenant allows us to expose the asset directly to the wholesale spot market. The system charges when prices are lowest, or even negative, and discharges when electricity is expensive. This dual-revenue approach generates profit on both cycles.
This strategy is currently a hallmark of embedded networks. However, the new Flexible Trading Arrangement Rule (expected November 2026) will give single-site commercial operations the power to access the spot market through their own behind-the-meter batteries.
The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.
Watch Next
Step onto the site to explore the physical infrastructure making this revenue model possible.
Optimising a Multi-tenant Site (Part 2): Spatial Engineering & VPP Readiness
Optimising a Multi-Tenant Site (Part 3): Switchboard Conversion & Future-Proofing
Optimising a Multi-Tenant Site (Part 4): Maximising Solar Carport Site Footprint
Optimising a Multi-Tenant Site (Part 5): BESS Integration and the Revenue Loop
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What is the 30in30 initiative?
This video is part of Next Green Group’s 30in30 initiative. We’ve committed to deploying 30 Megawatt-hours of behind-the-meter commercial & industrial (C&I) battery storage across Australia over the next 30 months. We’re opening our internal playbooks to show C&I leaders the engineering and financial reality, empowering them to navigate the energy transition confidently.
Next Green Group is a vertically integrated energy solutions provider delivering complete asset lifecycle management. With 14 years of industry experience and more than 15,000 energy projects delivered, we bridge the gap between behind-the-meter energy infrastructure and front-of-meter wholesale market dynamics through our retail energy arm, Next Business Energy. We engineer, construct, and provide ongoing operations and maintenance for commercial energy assets to strict ISO & Australian standards. Backed by global powerhouse Sojitz Corporation, we combine this technical execution expertise with structured financing solutions to remove capital barriers and ensure long-term commercial performance.