Investing in a resilient and sustainable energy source pays dividends for decades, eliminating unplanned downtime and safeguarding your company from market fluctuations due to weather, increased demand, and an aging power grid.
Our innovative Virtual Utility® is an on-site power generation and energy storage system designed to provide reliable, cost-effective power while decreasing your physical and carbon footprint.
This solution includes our turnkey R3Di® System and 24-hour monitoring and energy optimization by our network operations team and advanced software solutions, collectively known as Grove 365.
Given the long-term financial and operational benefits, we’ve developed a detailed approach to calculating a company’s upfront costs and estimated savings based on a variety of factors.
While there are other variables our team will uncover through an in-depth, on-site analysis, this savings calculator can give you a better idea of what you can expect in just a few moments.
Here’s what it takes into account to calculate your returns.
Each R3Di® System can deliver 1 megawatt (MW) of conditioned power, tailored to your facility’s specific needs. Companies can purchase the system upfront or lease it through annual service cost payments, eliminating the need for potential large capital expenses. The annual cost calculations depend on both the number of systems required and the expected peak loads. For example:
These tailored, scalable options allow companies to estimate both upfront and ongoing costs based on actual load requirements.
Utility costs vary widely by region and market. The R3Di® System uses natural gas and lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries to deliver electricity at a rate that is often below average market rates, resulting in immediate savings.
Our team maintains a detailed database of utility rates by state, market, and zone. We then compare this to the standard rate for running our R3Di® System using natural gas to reveal an estimated savings.
The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is a federal dollar-for-dollar credit offsetting expenses in qualifying renewable energy programs or systems, including solar panels and energy storage devices. The Inflation Reduction Act set this credit at 30% through 2032.
There are additional credits available for projects in communities in need, including areas contaminated by a hazardous substance or pollutant, areas with a high percentage of employment directly tied to the coal, oil, or natural gas industries, and low-income communities.
The U.S. Department of Energy maintains an eligibility map of qualifying municipalities and regions, and we factor these into our estimate to give you the most accurate picture of your potential savings.
Downtime costs for manufacturing companies and other facilities can be significant, estimated at nearly $125,000 per hour, according to a recent global survey by ABB.
This includes unplanned equipment downtime due to power failures or power quality issues, such as brownouts or power surges, that damage sensitive machinery or require your facility to restart operations. These issues create a ripple effect, leading to production delays, increased labor costs, missed deadlines and needing to cover the cost of repairs. The R3Di® System is designed to pick up a facility’s full load instantaneously in the event of a power failure or disruption, eliminating downtime and its associated costs.
We ask companies to estimate the number of downtime hours they experienced in the past year if they’re known, or provide an average based on the size of their facility if they’re not known, multiplying that by the latest figures from ABB noted above at $125,000 per hour. This gives companies an estimated “uptime savings,” a significant part of Virtual Utility’s bottom line benefits.
Unlike traditional diesel generators, the R3Di® System combines a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery storage system with a natural gas generator.
This system provides a longer operational life—up to 20 years or 10,000 cycles—without the continuous electrical flow through the batteries that other systems require, which often causes faster degradation. R3Di®’s durability and low maintenance requirements contribute directly to a lower total cost of ownership.
Learn more about how the R3Di® System compares to diesel generators.
R3Di®’s superior power factor allows it to deliver more energy from a smaller footprint, making it suitable especially for facilities with limited space. Compared to diesel generators, which require frequent fuel replacement, filtering, and more emissions control maintenance, the R3Di® System offers significant savings over its lifecycle.
Virtual Utility is a transformative approach to energy independence. By optimizing energy costs, enhancing reliability, capturing tax incentives, and supporting environmental goals, your company can achieve greater resilience and substantial financial benefits.
Once you’ve used our ROI calculator to estimate your costs and savings, schedule a time to talk with our experts about your power requirements, energy infrastructure and future goals. From there, our team will prepare a more in-depth preliminary quote. As our aging electric grid continues to be overextended, reducing reliability and increasing costs for businesses, now is the time to explore new solutions. You can’t afford the outages you’re experiencing now, and you can’t afford to wait to make a change.