On-site solar PV for C&I customers can lower operating costs and stabilize part of your power price. That only holds when your electricity rate, your state's export rules, your daytime load, and your ownership structure line up.
This is Energy Decision #55 in the complete C&I energy management series by Daniel Burke. It's part of his mission to create the world's largest, free, high-trust energy resource library for commercial and industrial consumers.
In this episode, Daniel Burke covers:
- Behind-the-meter solar: self-consumption vs. exported energy, and how exports are credited depending on your state
- Energy billed per kilowatt-hour vs. demand billed per kilowatt, and which one solar offsets
- Solar plus storage for peak shaving, demand charge management, and backup power
- Why your marginal energy charge sets your commercial solar payback period, and why your average bill rate overstates it
- The split incentive problem between building owners and tenants
- Export rule changes: California's net billing tariff and Indiana's phase-out of net metering
- Direct ownership vs. third-party ownership: cash, loans, solar leases, and the solar PPA
- The federal tax credit and its current deadlines, depreciation, SRECs, and elective pay for schools and municipalities
Who this is for: plant managers, facility managers, and finance leaders at manufacturing plants, school districts, municipalities, breweries, farms, and retail operations who have a solar proposal in front of them and need to know whether the payback holds up.
If you're asking whether solar makes sense for your manufacturing plant, or how a solar PPA compares with a cash purchase, this episode is built for you.
Read the full breakdown on On-site Solar PV for C&I Customers at tac-nrg.com
If you're an Indiana C&I operator actively evaluating this decision, get your free Energy Decision Blueprint at tac-nrg.com/blueprint.
Visit tac-nrg.com to access the entire Energy Answers resource library and the Energy Decision Blueprint for qualified Indiana C&I operators.

ISO 50001 and Strategic Energy Management (Expedited) give industrial and commercial facilities a structured energy management system for cutting energy costs year after year.

This is Energy Decision #54 in the complete C&I energy management series by Daniel Burke. It's part of his mission to create the world's largest, free, high-trust energy resource library for commercial and industrial consumers.

In this episode, Daniel Burke covers:

- ISO 50001 energy management system (EnMS) requirements and the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle

- Energy review, energy baseline, and production-normalized energy performance indicators (EnPIs)

- EU 2026-2027 thresholds and Germany's EnMS requirement

- How much ISO 50001 saves, per ISO and DOE Superior Energy Performance data

- Non-production period consumption on weekends and shutdowns

- Sub-metering and the ISO 50001 payback period on monitoring infrastructure

- Organizational failure modes and ISO 9001/14001 High-Level Structure integration

Who this is for: plant managers, facility managers, and operations and finance executives at manufacturing plants, industrial facilities, commercial buildings, and municipalities who need energy cost reductions that last.

If you're asking "do I need ISO 50001 for my facility" or how to build an energy management system for sustained savings, this episode is built for you.

Read the full breakdown on ISO 50001 and Strategic Energy Management (Expedited) at tac-nrg.com

If you're an Indiana C&I operator actively evaluating this decision, get your free Energy Decision Blueprint at tac-nrg.com/blueprint.

Visit tac-nrg.com to access the entire Energy Answers resource library and the Energy Decision Blueprint for qualified Indiana C&I operators.

Voltage sags and swells are short voltage disturbances. They reset controls, cost your motors torque, and drive out-of-warranty equipment repairs in commercial and industrial facilities.

This is Energy Decision #53 in the complete C&I energy management series by Daniel Burke. It's part of his mission to create the world's largest, free, high-trust energy resource library for commercial and industrial consumers.

In this episode, Daniel Burke covers:

- The thresholds: a voltage sag (dip) is 10 to 90 percent of nominal, a voltage swell is 110 percent or more, and how both differ from a transient voltage

- Undervoltage and overvoltage as the sustained versions of sags and swells

- Operational symptoms, including equipment resets, lighting flicker, and motor torque loss

- Common causes, from motor starts and loose connections to line-to-ground faults and transformer tap settings

- A four-step troubleshooting sequence using stakeholder interviews, thermal imaging, and multimeter checks

- How power analyzer data, combined with other checks, helps you tell whether a sag starts inside or outside your facility

- Mitigation by event type and cost: fixing internal causes, hardening sensitive controls, and saving a UPS for loads where the cost of a trip justifies it

- Why a periodic power quality study makes sense even when your plant shows no symptoms

If you've asked "why does my equipment keep resetting" or "how do I tell if a voltage problem is the utility or internal," this episode answers both.

Who this is for: plant managers, facility managers, and operations executives at manufacturing plants, hospitals, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities who are dealing with unexplained resets, motor faults, and early equipment failures.

If you're working out how to protect your equipment and operations from the cost of voltage sags and swells, this episode is built for you.

Read the full breakdown on Voltage Sags and Swells at tac-nrg.com

If you're an Indiana C&I operator actively evaluating this decision, get your free Energy Decision Blueprint at tac-nrg.com/blueprint.

Visit tac-nrg.com to access the entire Energy Answers resource library and the Energy Decision Blueprint for qualified Indiana C&I operators.