Securing C&I Solar + Storage Bankability through Service-Led Ownership

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Introduction to Canadian Solar and Guest

The Role of Incentives in Solar Projects

Rising Energy Costs and Market Demand

Canadian Solar's Business Model and Services

Transitioning from Equipment Provider to Service Provider

Scaling C&I Solar Projects

Common Misconceptions About Solar and Storage

Evolution of Battery Storage Usage

Challenges in Hybrid Solar and Storage Deals

Investment Considerations for Solar and Storage

Real-World Applications of Energy Resilience

Common Pitfalls in Project Design and Execution

The ESCO Model vs. Traditional EPC

Impact of Utility Rate Changes on C&I Solar

Future Innovations in Energy Management Systems

The Growing Adoption of Virtual Power Plants

Success Stories in Solar and Storage Implementation

Conclusion and Future Outlook

Sébastien Prioux, Head of C&I Storage - Systems & Solutions, Americas - Commercial & Industrial Projects, at Canadian Solar, breaks down what it takes to build a C&I solar-plus-storage portfolio that holds its value.

Most C&I solar and storage deals don’t fail because the technology doesn’t work. They fail because of how the project is structured, financed, and operated over time.

Topics discussed:

• Risk allocation as the primary deal-closing mechanism in C&I solar and storage
• Repeatability as the scaling discipline and why contract template consistency matters more than pipeline size
• How the ESCO model captures 20-year project value that EPC firms leave on the table
• The real bottlenecks killing hybrid deals, including permitting complexity, ITC compliance, and safe harbor uncertainty
• Shifting battery use cases from arbitrage and demand charge reduction to VPP enrollment and grid services
• Energy management systems as the competitive differentiator in long-term asset performance
• The financial thresholds Canadian Solar used in Asia to de-risk 200-project portfolios
• Why OPEX assumptions, not equipment cost, are most often the root cause of underperformance
• Illinois CEJA/CRGA regulation and the emerging state-by-state VPP landscape in the US
• When solar and storage doesn’t make sense: load profile characteristics that disqualify a site

Sean Swentek: Hello, and welcome back to The Future Current. I’m your host, Sean Swentek. Today, I’m speaking with Sébastien Prioux, head of C&I Systems and Solutions Americas for the commercial and industrial projects arm of Canadian Solar. Sébastien, thank you for joining me today.

Sébastien Prioux: Thanks, Sean. I’m very excited to be here with you.

Sean Swentek: ...can you talk a little bit overall about what you do at Canadian Solar and their activities in the US, especially as it relates to C&I solar plus storage? A lot of listeners, when they hear the name Canadian Solar, immediately think of a module manufacturer. Can you talk a little bit about the specific business line you’re in and their activities in the US today?

Sébastien Prioux: ...In the US, Canadian Solar is now a truly vertically integrated manufacturer on US soil. We have multiple billion dollars invested in US territory — in Texas, in Indiana, and in Kentucky. Texas is for the module manufacturing...We want to provide a full service to our customers — whether it’s engineering design, commissioning with on-site engineers, or the integration of the batteries...

Sean Swentek: ...What do you think is critical to getting a commercial solar storage deal done no matter the country? And maybe you can also share what role incentives play across geographies.

Sébastien Prioux: The main topic would be the risk allocation understanding. If you face a customer that really understands that the energy project is a twenty-year infrastructure project on their facility...that’s usually a game changer for the end user...

Sean Swentek: ...And not to mention here in the US, for the last few years, we’ve seen energy costs consistently rising through the utility. From one state to the other, you have some differences. What are you seeing?

Sébastien Prioux: ...The demand is everywhere because people see their electricity bill rising every month, plus power interruptions. All these parameters together create a huge demand on the market.

Sean Swentek: ...Can you talk a little bit about the real-world value of energy resilience, especially in critical infrastructure like that?

Sébastien Prioux: It was a fire station in Washington State...the lesson number one for me and the team was that resiliency — especially for a fire station — has no cost. They would pay whatever was necessary to make sure that a power interruption would never happen...

Sean Swentek: ...Are you seeing companies that you’re working with still primarily looking at storage as just a backup option, or are they looking to actively participate in markets — using it for arbitrage, peak shaving, things like that?

Sébastien Prioux: It’s changing. Initially, with the first systems I deployed in the last two or three years, ninety percent of the cases were for time-of-use or arbitrage...Now people select their batteries anticipating that in five years it will still be used for arbitrage and demand charge reduction, but also enrolled in some VPP program...

Sean Swentek: ...What do you think is one of the bigger misconceptions that a C&I company might have about integrating both solar and storage into their operations?

Sébastien Prioux: The biggest misconception is that people still believe it’s plug and play...You always have a lot of different integration issues when you have a battery storage system connecting to a solar array...

Sean Swentek: ...For those folks with enterprise businesses who maybe have a handful of solar sites or have done a single battery storage project but are looking to actually scale across their portfolio, what are the things they need to be thinking about to make sure they get right and don’t get wrong?

Sébastien Prioux: ...if you have the same template that you can duplicate over and over, it makes the portfolio easier to manage in terms of risk mitigation — and more appealing to investors down the line.

Sean Swentek: ...So that transition from just an equipment provider to a true solution and service provider — how does that turnkey mindset change the way a C&I solar project is developed and executed?

Sébastien Prioux: ...We wanted to be part of that with our customers — to be closer to them...

Sean Swentek: ...And there’s a piece of this puzzle — the energy service company model — that I know is adjacent to the EPC model. What does the ESCO model get right that maybe a traditional EPC development firm might miss?

Sébastien Prioux: The ESCO optimizes for the lifetime value of the project...

Sean Swentek: ...What do you think will be the big technology or software breakthrough that might fundamentally transform our industry in the next five years?

Sébastien Prioux: The big investment we are making on our side — and I believe it’s the game changer — is the EMS, the energy management system...

Sean Swentek: ...I know right behind you it says QBank — that’s your new battery storage system that orchestrates with PV...What did that project show you about the real-world value of energy resilience?

Sébastien Prioux: ...For a fire station, the reason is obvious: they cannot run out of power.

Sean Swentek: ...That’s really helpful...What is the one thing that often convinces them to take the plunge?

Sébastien Prioux: ...Usually, it’s not about the technology anymore...it’s about the timeline, the financing, and the trust you build in your contract.

Sean Swentek: ...What’s your approach when those contracts are complicated?

Sébastien Prioux: ...If you look at some factories that have a very small load profile with a lot of interruptions, or facilities with very low consumption where we couldn’t generate enough savings by putting solar or storage, those don’t work.

Sean Swentek: ...I have an example that was very stimulating for the whole team. We did ten sites on a supermarket chain in two steps...the customer was very hesitant because it was an additional investment just two years after doing the initial phase one. We did it anyway, and we generated an extra twenty percent savings on the electricity bill.

Sean Swentek: ...I know you mentioned some of the industry events...Thank you for being on the show.

Sébastien Prioux: We’re trying to be almost everywhere, especially for battery storage, because we really try to increase our capability to deploy projects...