Batteries in practice · Historical case study
A reported two-year battery payback: Rhiienergie’s Swiss project
Published:
Case period: 2021–2023
In November 2023, ADS-TEC Energy reported that Swiss utility Rhiienergie’s battery investment had paid back within two years. The project is interesting because its intended role included balancing services and local grid management from the outset. Understanding the story means reading the owner’s project introduction separately from the manufacturer’s later announcement.
The project at a glance
| Owner | Rhiienergie AG |
|---|---|
| Location | Beside Vial substation, Domat/Ems, Graubünden, Switzerland |
| Power | 1.25 MW |
| Energy capacity | 1,345 kWh (1.345 MWh) |
| Reported investment | CHF 1.2 million |
| Operation began | 26 March 2021 (according to ADS-TEC Energy) |
Rhiienergie published the technical figures and investment on 23 March 2021. The manufacturer’s 2023 announcement rounds capacity to 1.3 MWh. The two-year payback is specifically ADS-TEC Energy’s claim, rather than our independently calculated net payback.
Serving both the system and the local grid
The owner introduced the battery as a resource for primary and secondary control. Swissgrid’s explanation helps clarify these terms: primary control responds first to frequency fluctuations, while secondary control replaces it and is activated by an automatic operator signal. What matters is the ability to adjust power at the right time, as well as selling stored electricity.
Rhiienergie also envisaged reducing local grid load peaks: smoothing short periods of heavy loading. This task concerns the needs of a particular location. It shows why the same battery’s contribution can be assessed at both the wider system level and the local grid level.
Who brought the capability to market
In its 2021 introduction, the owner assigned battery management and marketing in the balancing market to Axpo. This describes the partnership at that time. It demonstrates that owning equipment and organising its market activity can be separate responsibilities; the old announcement does not establish the current contract.
In our view, that division of responsibilities is the central business lesson. Before calculating returns, it helps to understand who buys the service, who brings it to market and how operation fits the grid’s needs. A technical data table alone cannot provide those answers, but it can start a more precise conversation.
Reading the reported payback
The public announcements do not provide a detailed audited cash-flow table or a revenue breakdown. We therefore do not turn the CHF 1.2 million investment and two-year period into an annual revenue or profit figure. Nor do we attribute the payback number to the owner’s executive quoted by the manufacturer: it appears in the announcement’s narrative.
This particular Swiss project’s history is not a payback forecast for other parks or for Silver BESS. Its practical value lies in the clear combination of balancing services, local grid management and a market partner’s work. That gives readers a fuller picture of the battery business than asking only which hour offers cheaper electricity.