Customer story | Decospan strengthens its sustainable energy ambitions with smart battery storage
Bnewable supports Decospan in expanding its sustainable energy infrastructure with a smart battery solution. The battery helps Decospan better align solar energy with its own consumption, create flexibility, and at the same time contribute to a more stable electricity grid. We spoke with Pieterjan Desmet, CEO of Decospan, and Jonas, business developer at Bnewable, about the vision behind the project and the collaboration.
Decospan is active in wood processing, with a strong focus on veneer and decorative wood for interior applications. Sustainability plays a central role in this.
With this project, Bnewable helps Decospan further develop its sustainable energy strategy. The result is a flexible energy asset that continuously aligns solar production, consumption, market value, and grid support.
“Sustainability is important to us by definition,” says Pieterjan Desmet, CEO of Decospan. “We are active in wood processing as a natural product. If we do not handle our raw material properly, we will have problems in the long term.”
That vision is also reflected concretely in energy investments. Decospan installed its first solar park back in 2009 and has expanded further in recent years with wind energy and large-scale solar panels on the site. Today, together with Bnewable, the company is taking the next step with battery storage to make smarter use of that locally generated energy.
“A 20-foot container was installed at our site. It contains the battery cells. This represents a capacity of about two megawatts,” says Pieterjan. “And we have a PV installation of 2.7 megawatt-peak. So those are well aligned.”
Left: Pieterjan Desmet, CEO of Decospan
Right: 1 MW / 2 MWh BESS in Menen
For Decospan, peace of mind was a decisive factor. The company has several projects running simultaneously and was therefore looking for a partner that could fully manage the battery project.
“For this project, we looked for a partner with more experience in that field,” says Pieterjan. “Bnewable handled the entire delivery for us from A to Z, allowing us to focus on our core project.”
This approach aligns with Bnewable’s philosophy: acting as a central point of contact and fully relieving customers of concerns, without requiring them to invest in the battery themselves.
“At the start of the battery project, we started from the idea that we would be the central point of contact for the customer,” says Jonas. “We offer full peace of mind from A to Z, so that the customer has to deal with it as little as possible.”
“The production times and the energy generation times are not always perfectly balanced.”
Because Decospan does not produce 24/7, production and solar energy generation do not always coincide. Especially during weekends, more energy can be generated than is consumed locally. The battery absorbs this discrepancy.
“We store the overproduction of solar energy from the large PV installation in the battery,” explains Pieterjan. “And later we feed it back when it is needed again.”
The battery is controlled via Voltana, Bnewable’s in-house developed Energy Management Platform. This algorithm continuously optimizes where the battery can create the most value: on the site itself, for grid support, on imbalance markets, or by responding to electricity prices.
“On this battery here at Decospan, Bnewable looks millisecond by millisecond at where it can be deployed most optimally,” says Jonas, business developer at Bnewable. “This is done by Voltana. And that is what makes a Bnewable battery quite unique.”
For Decospan, the project combines several advantages: better use of its own renewable energy, financial returns, and a contribution to the stability of the energy grid.
“Of course, there is a certain return on investment for us,” concludes Pieterjan. “And in addition, we will also support the government in balancing the energy grid. So we are doing our part.”