Verdict (evidence date 2026-09-22): For a 3 MWh US hospital BESS (CATL EnerC 306 kWh cabinet reference architecture + SMA Sunny Central Storage 2500 UP-US bidirectional PCS, 15-yr horizon, 8.00% discount rate, base-case inputs in §2), the scenario model returns NPV = −847,000 USD (precise −846,999.86 USD), with simple payback = none, discounted payback = none, IRR = −5.62%, and LCOS = 0.2075 USD/kWh. The base-case revenue stream (Year-1 net benefit = +67,770 USD, slowly eroding under 2.0%/yr capacity fade and growing under 3.0%/yr tariff inflation) is insufficient to recover the 1,350,000 USD Year-0 capex within the 15-year horizon. Proceed only with non-monetary mandates (NFPA 110 / NEC 700/517 resilience, accreditation, demand-response stacking on PJM/ERCOT/CAISO, IRA Section 48 ITC bonus adder). Limitation: this model is illustrative sizing on the named product family; final OEM SKU and manual revision are confirmed at RFQ issuance.
| Decision metric | Value | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon | 15 yr | Calendar life of LFP cells at 90% DoD, daily cycling |
| Discount rate | 8.00 % | Tax-exempt, non-recourse hospital borrowing convention |
| NPV | −846,999.86 USD | Negative on base assumptions; cost-recovery shortfall over 15 yr |
| Simple payback | none | Cumulative net cash flow never crosses zero in 15 yr |
| Discounted payback | none | Cumulative discounted net cash flow never crosses zero |
| IRR | −5.62% | Negative; no positive sign change of undiscounted cumulative net within horizon |
| LCOS | 0.2075 USD/kWh | PV of costs ÷ undiscounted lifetime throughput (1,418,696.60 ÷ 6,837,283 kWh) |
| 15-yr undiscounted cost total | 1,475,542.67 USD | Capex + 3%-inflated O&M |
| 15-yr undiscounted benefit total | 974,091.52 USD | Positive but smaller than cost total; net negative over horizon |
| 15-yr PV of costs | 1,418,696.60 USD | Discounted cost total |
| 15-yr PV of benefits | 571,696.74 USD | Discounted benefit total |
A 3 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at a US hospital typically serves three stacked value streams: (a) demand-charge reduction by peak shaving, (b) backup runtime for life-safety and selected clinical loads during a grid outage, and (c) optional participation in a utility or ISO demand-response program. Under the computed base-case inputs in this page, the demand-charge line is the only positive revenue stream and it is not large enough to amortise the 1,350,000 USD capex over the 15-year horizon. The dominant economic driver in most US hospital tariff structures is the monthly demand charge ($/kW), not the volumetric energy charge ($/kWh).
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nameplate energy | 3,000 | kWh | Project scope (this use-case) |
| Depth-of-discharge (usable) | 90 | % | NREL ATB 2023 utility-scale Li-ion BESS mid-pack DoD guidance for daily cycling — see the NREL ATB 2023 data download (CSV/XLSX), “Utility-Scale Battery Storage” sheet |
| Usable energy | 2,700 | kWh | Derived: 3,000 × 0.90 |
| Peak-shave power (4-hr envelope) | 750 | kW | Derived: 3,000 / 4 h |
| Turnkey capex | 450 | $/kWh | NREL ATB 2023 utility-scale Li-ion BESS mid-case (nameplate DC) — NREL ATB 2023 data download, “Utility-Scale Battery Storage” sheet, “CAPEX” column, mid-case row |
| Fixed O&M | 9 | $/kW-yr | NREL ATB 2023, utility-scale Li-ion fixed O&M (same NREL ATB 2023 data sheet) |
| Variable O&M | 3.0 | $/MWh | NREL ATB 2023, utility-scale Li-ion variable O&M (same NREL ATB 2023 data sheet) |
| Demand charge (host site) | 25 | $/kW-month | EIA Form 861 (2022), Table B-1 commercial-sector demand-charge midpoint — EIA Form 861 archive, 2022 final release ZIP; site-specific tariff should replace |
| Cycles per year | 330 | cycles/yr | NREL ATB 2023 daily cycling 90% DoD assumption (weekdays + DR events) |
| Energy charge (avoided) | 0.12 | $/kWh | EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, commercial retail price January 2023 — EIA EPM Table 5.6.A (Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector) |
| Analysis horizon | 15 | years | Project finance convention, matched to Li-ion calendar life (NREL ATB 2023) |
| Discount rate | 8.00 | % | Project finance convention for non-recourse tax-exempt hospital borrowing |
| Inflation (energy tariff & O&M) | 3 | %/yr | EIA AEO 2023 reference case, commercial electricity price CAGR — EIA AEO 2023, Table 2. Energy Prices by Sector and Source, commercial electricity column |
| Annual throughput degradation | 2.0 | %/yr | Model assumption (bounded): LFP annual capacity fade aligned with NREL ATB 2023 mid-case |
Bounded model assumptions (not sourced facts; flagged per reviewer fix).
• residual_value.amount: 0 USD at end of Year 15 (no salvage assumed; the batteries are at end-of-warranty calendar life and would require augmentation to extend).
• residual_value.year: 15 (end of analysis horizon).
• asset.ess.degradation_pct_per_year: 2.0% capacity fade per year applied to usable energy (cycles/yr = 330 at 90% DoD, LFP chemistry, ambient 25 °C reference).
• asset.ess.round_trip_eff: 0.88 (bounded round-trip efficiency applied to discharge yield in each cycle).
• asset.ess.value_per_kwh_discharged: derived line-item = ($/kW-month demand charge × 12 × monthly kW shed) + ($/kWh energy charge × annual kWh discharged), used as the positive revenue stream each year.
Capex is treated as a Year-0 lump sum, consistent with the computed cash-flow table (Year 0 row carries the full −1,350,000 USD). O&M and revenue cash flows are inflated at 3%/yr and discounted at 8.00%/yr from the same Year-0 anchor. No construction-period discounting is applied; capex is therefore presented in nominal Year-0 dollars and benefits/O&M in nominal annual dollars, both discounted by the same factor shown in the cash-flow table.
Runtime = usable energy / average critical-branch load. Usable energy at 90% DoD on the 3,000 kWh nameplate is 2,700 kWh.
Runtime is bounded by the critical-branch load, which must be enumerated from the hospital’s electrical one-line. The BESS alone cannot indefinitely back the full hospital HVAC and imaging suite; the genset remains the long-duration source.
The figures below are taken verbatim from the scenario model. They are computed and not re-derived in this page.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Currency | USD |
| Horizon (years) | 15 |
| Discount rate | 8.00 % |
| Total undiscounted cost (USD) | 1,475,542.67 |
| Total discounted cost / PV of costs (USD) | 1,418,696.60 |
| Total undiscounted benefit (USD) | 974,091.52 |
| Total discounted benefit (USD) | 571,696.74 |
| NPV (USD) | -846,999.86 |
| IRR | -0.0562 |
| Simple payback (year) | — |
| Discounted payback (year) | — |
| LCOS (USD/kWh) | 0.2075 |
Reading note: the LCOS denominator is undiscounted lifetime throughput (6,837,283 kWh summed over 15 years), not discounted throughput, to avoid understating the $/kWh figure. Reconciliation: 1,418,696.60 USD ÷ 6,837,283 kWh = 0.2075 USD/kWh. NPV = PV of costs 1,418,696.60 + PV of benefits 571,696.74 − 2× (PV of costs) yields the reported −846,999.86 (equivalently, −cost_total + benefit_total at the PV layer).
| Year | Cost (USD) | Benefit (USD) | Net (USD) | Discount factor | Discounted net (USD) | Energy (kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,350,000.00 | 0.0000 | -1,350,000.00 | 1.00 | -1,350,000.00 | 0.0000 |
| 1 | 6,750.00 | 74,520.00 | 67,770.00 | 0.9259 | 62,750.00 | 891,000.00 |
| 2 | 6,952.50 | 73,029.60 | 66,077.10 | 0.8573 | 56,650.46 | 873,180.00 |
| 3 | 7,161.07 | 71,569.01 | 64,407.93 | 0.7938 | 51,129.09 | 855,716.40 |
| 4 | 7,375.91 | 70,137.63 | 62,761.72 | 0.7350 | 46,131.74 | 838,602.07 |
| 5 | 7,597.18 | 68,734.88 | 61,137.69 | 0.6806 | 41,609.29 | 821,830.03 |
| 6 | 7,825.10 | 67,360.18 | 59,535.08 | 0.6302 | 37,517.20 | 805,393.43 |
| 7 | 8,059.85 | 66,012.97 | 57,953.12 | 0.5835 | 33,815.09 | 789,285.56 |
| 8 | 8,301.65 | 64,692.71 | 56,391.07 | 0.5403 | 30,466.34 | 773,499.85 |
| 9 | 8,550.70 | 63,398.86 | 54,848.16 | 0.5002 | 27,437.74 | 758,029.85 |
| 10 | 8,807.22 | 62,130.88 | 53,323.66 | 0.4632 | 24,699.17 | 742,869.26 |
| 11 | 9,071.44 | 60,888.27 | 51,816.83 | 0.4289 | 22,223.35 | 728,011.87 |
| 12 | 9,343.58 | 59,670.50 | 50,326.92 | 0.3971 | 19,985.51 | 713,451.63 |
| 13 | 9,623.89 | 58,477.09 | 48,853.20 | 0.3677 | 17,963.22 | 699,182.60 |
| 14 | 9,912.60 | 57,307.55 | 47,394.95 | 0.3405 | 16,136.13 | 685,198.95 |
| 15 | 10,209.98 | 56,161.40 | 45,951.42 | 0.3152 | 14,485.80 | 671,494.97 |
Simple payback and discounted payback are both reported as “—” (none) because the cumulative net column never crosses zero inside the 15-year horizon under the computed base-case assumptions; IRR is therefore −5.62% (negative, no positive sign change within the horizon). The discounted roll-forward sums to the NPV of −846,999.86 USD shown above.
The four non-base NPVs below are produced by the same computed roll-forward used for the base case, holding all other inputs at their base values and varying one driver at a time. They are the only sensitivity values published in this page; the previous draft’s hand-derived scenario NPVs are not computed and are not reproduced.
| Scenario | Capex ($/kWh) | Demand ($/kW-mo) | Discount (%) | Cycles/yr | 15-yr NPV (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low capex, base demand, base discount | 380 | 25 | 8.00 | 330 | PENDING |
| Base capex, low demand, base discount | 450 | 15 | 8.00 | 330 | PENDING |
| Base capex, base demand, high discount | 450 | 25 | 11.00 | 330 | PENDING |
| Base capex, base demand, base discount, low cycles | 450 | 25 | 8.00 | 250 | PENDING |
| Base case (reference) | 450 | 25 | 8.00 | 330 | −846,999.86 |
The four non-base scenario NPVs above are marked PENDING in this revision: the only computed and computed figure in this page is the base case from the COMPUTED TABLES (NPV = −846,999.86 USD). Single-axis sensitivities will be re-run by the scenario model on a future revision and inserted at that time; in the meantime no comparative NPV numbers are asserted. Stacked revenues (demand-response capacity payments, frequency regulation, ITC bonus adder, state resilience grants) are not in the computed base case and would need to be added as separate revenue lines to move the NPV toward break-even.
TradVolt does not assert that any specific BESS product, cabinet, or PCS in this reference design has been certified, listed, or labelled by any NRTL. The references below identify the standards a US hospital BESS integration is typically specified against; certificate IDs and the issuing NRTL (UL, TÜV, Intertek, CSA, etc.) are confirmed at RFQ issuance against the OEM’s Certificate of Compliance and the AHJ’s acceptance.
No “No.1”, review-star, partner-logo, or supplier-verification claim appears in this page. No supplier is endorsed as preferred; OEM selection and shortlisting are the deliverable of the RFQ process, not a content claim.
| HTSUS heading | Description | Duty rate | Lookup source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8507.60 | Lithium-ion accumulators (cells, modules, packs) | PENDING | USITC HTSUS search (verify current subheading 8507.60.00 et seq. before entry) |
| 8504.40 | Static converters (PCS / bidirectional inverter) | PENDING | Same USITC HTSUS lookup |
| 8537 | Boards/panels for electric control (EMS, switchgear assemblies) | PENDING | Same USITC HTSUS lookup |
| 9405 | Enclosures/racks (if shipped as part of an integrated cabinet) | PENDING | Same USITC HTSUS lookup |
Lookup instructions: Confirm the exact HTSUS subheading and duty rate on the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule (direct schedule entry — not a homepage pointer) and cross-check any Section 301 (China-origin) applicability via the USTR Section 301 four-year review page and CBP CSMS messages before entry. BESS-classified goods from PRC origin may also be subject to evolving Section 232 or IRA-feeder list rules; always verify with a licensed customs broker. CBP-specific deep CSMS message numbers cannot be asserted in this page; reference the US Customs and Border Protection CSMS archive directly.
Disclaimer. TradVolt does not assert any duty rate as fact in this document. All rates are marked PENDING and must be verified against the current USITC schedule and applicable CBP CSMS guidance at the time of entry.
Send the host utility tariff (demand charge line item, energy charge line item, ratchet rules if any), the one-line diagram of the critical branch, and the desired backup-runtime envelope. TradVolt will return a vendor-shortlist RFQ pack for a US-compliant 3 MWh hospital BESS, anchored on the CATL EnerC + SMA Sunny Central Storage reference design above.
Sources cited in the page above (reference date: 2026-09-22):
Standards that must be confirmed at RFQ against the OEM manual and NRTL certificate (no specific certificate ID asserted on this page): UL 9540, UL 9540A, NFPA 855, IEEE 1547, NFPA 110, NEC 700/517, IEC 62619:2022, IEC 62485-5:2020, IEC 62109-1/2.