Case Study: How Lactalis Canada Cut Its Bills with PeakPower's Zero-Cost Resiliency Model

PeakPower has not disclosed specific system sizing or dollar amounts publicly. What is documented is the deal structure: PeakPower owned/financed the equipment, installed it on-site at Lactalis, operated it under a services agreement, and captured a share of the demand-charge savings as the revenue model. Lactalis paid a lower monthly bill from day one without laying out capital.

The finance structure is a variant of what the solar industry calls a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS), adapted for storage. Four common elements:

1. The integrator owns the battery equipment. On Lactalis' balance sheet, this shows up as an operating expense, not a capital asset — no depreciation schedule, no financing line, no cash out at the start.
2. The customer signs a multi-year services agreement — typically 8-15 years. During that period, the integrator operates the battery, captures the technical benefits (peak shaving, resilience), and shares the savings via a fee structure.
3. The savings share is calibrated so the customer pays LESS than their pre-battery bill from month one. Typical split: customer keeps 60-70% of the demand-charge savings, integrator keeps 30-40%. That integrator share pays for the equipment plus a return.
4. At end of term, the customer usually has three options: extend the services agreement, buy out the equipment at fair market value, or have the integrator remove the equipment. Most Canadian deals include a buyout option at year 8-10 in the $10K-$50K range.

1. Predictable demand curves. Refrigerated warehousing, milk processing, and food manufacturing have highly predictable daily load profiles — easy for the integrator to model, easy to design the peak-shaving strategy around.
2. Large demand charges. These operations typically pay $100K-$500K+/year in demand charges alone. Even a 30% reduction creates a savings pool big enough to fund the equipment.
3. Resilience mandates. Cold-chain operators have hard uptime requirements — an outage on a refrigerated warehouse can spoil hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory in hours. Battery storage doubles as backup power on top of the peak-shaving benefit.
4. Multi-year contracts fit the sector. Food processors sign 5-10 year property leases, service contracts, and utility agreements routinely. A 10-year battery services agreement doesn't feel unusual.
5. No capital-approval friction. Getting a $500K+ capital purchase through a corporate CFO can take 6-18 months. An operating-expense services contract with a defined savings guarantee can often be approved by a plant manager without a CapEx review.

1. You do NOT capture the federal Clean Tech ITC or provincial rebates directly. The integrator does, and shares them via the pricing structure. For customers who could use the ITC directly, a purchase model is usually cheaper over 15 years.
2. The services fee is a fixed monthly obligation. If your business shrinks, you still pay. If your peak load drops materially (e.g., you retire a big compressor), the integrator's expected savings drop and you may face a re-negotiation.
3. End-of-term buyout economics vary widely. Some contracts include a $1 buyout at year 15; others use fair-market-value assessment that can run 15-25% of original equipment cost. Read the buyout clause CAREFULLY before signing.
4. Integrator credit risk matters. If your integrator is acquired or fails, the services agreement transfers to whoever owns the equipment. Ask about assignment clauses and integrator financial disclosure.
5. You lose flexibility on future battery-tech upgrades. If in year 5, a battery-tech generation change makes your equipment obsolete, you're stuck operating on the older platform until end of contract. Purchase models can retire equipment when it makes sense.