Non-Lithium BESS for Water & Wastewater: Cutting Bills, Avoiding Upsets, and Building True Resilience

By Alpha Water & Power • October 2025 • United States Analysis

Summary: Water and wastewater utilities can reduce energy spend and protect biology by deploying non-lithium, long-duration battery energy storage (4–12 hours). These chemistries enable safer siting near critical equipment, monetize demand response, and—via federal Direct Pay—unlock Investment Tax Credits for public entities.

The challenge

Power is the largest O&M line item for many plants; peaks and short outages trigger both costs and process upsets. [1][2][3][5]

The innovation

Non-lithium BESS (VRFB, iron-flow, aqueous zinc, sodium-ion, NAS) delivers 4–12 h discharge with safer siting and UL/NFPA compliance. [7][8][9][10][14-18]

The impact

Lower demand charges and TOU costs, earn DR revenue, and ride through events without biological upsets—now with ITC Direct Pay. [11][12][13]

Problem

Energy is eating the water budget

Water/wastewater can account for roughly 30–40% of municipal energy use, making electricity the dominant O&M cost driver for many utilities. [1][2][3] Peaks inflate bills via demand charges; TOU pricing punishes late-day aeration and pumping. Even brief sags and outages can cause process upsets, violations, and costly restarts. [5]

“Biology doesn’t care about your tariff window. If power blinks, operators eat the risk. Storage gives us a buffer between the grid and the bugs.” — Senior Engineer, Alpha Water & Power

Solution

Non-lithium long-duration storage built for plants

Non-lithium chemistries—VRFB, iron-flow, aqueous zinc, sodium-ion, and NAS—offer 4–12 hour discharge, high cycle life, and no thermal-runaway failure mode. Certified UL 9540/9540A systems installed under NFPA 855 and IFC §1206 support safer siting near process areas and chemical rooms. [7][8][9][10][14-18]

Case in point: Microgrid controls demonstrated at Laguna WWTP show ride-through and seamless transfer are achievable in real plants. [6]

Process

How the savings stack on a real bill

Value Stream	Mechanism	Typical Inputs
Demand charges	Discharge through top 15-minute peaks to reduce billed kW.	ΔkW × $/kW-mo × 12; peak coincidence and variability matter.
TOU arbitrage	Charge off-peak; discharge on-peak to capture spread.	(On-peak – Off-peak $/kWh) × kWh × cycles × RTE.
Demand response	Enroll capacity; dispatch during events to earn incentives.	Program rules (e.g., ConnectedSolutions), availability, M&V. [13]
Outage avoidance	Ride-through & controlled islanding prevent upsets/violations.	Critical load kW/kWh, event frequency/duration, restart costs. [5]

Operator-first controls: Reserve SOC bands, seamless transfer, and microgrid logic preserve biology while maximizing tariff savings. [5][6]

Safety & Compliance

Siting near critical equipment—with the right paperwork

AWP delivers systems with UL 9540 listings and UL 9540A test reports, installed per NFPA 855 and IFC §1206—the documentation your AHJ will ask for. [7][8][9][10]

“Bring your AHJ into the process early. With UL 9540A data and NFPA 855 basis-of-design, siting near process areas becomes a code conversation—not a guessing game.” — AWP Compliance Lead

Finance

Public agencies can now capture the ITC via Direct Pay

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, standalone storage qualifies for the Investment Tax Credit, and public/non-taxable entities can receive it as a cash refund via Elective Pay (Direct Pay). [11][12] Add-ons (domestic content, energy community) may further enhance value where applicable.

Bottom line: ITC + bill savings + DR revenue compress payback and de-risk long-duration choices in municipal settings.

What We Deliver

AWP’s turnkey scope for utilities

Chemistry-agnostic design: VRFB, iron-flow, aqueous zinc, sodium-ion, NAS—right-sized for 4–12 h duty. [14-18]
Process-aware controls: Reserve SOC, seamless transfer, microgrid controller, and SCADA integration. [5][6]
Compliance package: UL 9540/9540A, NFPA 855, IFC §1206 submittals; measurement & verification.

Alpha Water & Power designs, builds, and integrates storage to match the real operating profile of water and wastewater plants—so savings don’t come at the expense of biology. [19]

Next Step

Free savings screen for your facility

Send us:

12–24 months of 15-minute interval load (CSV) and 12 months of bills; current tariff sheet
Critical loads (kW/kWh), outage history; one-line & site constraints
Demand response territory (if known)

We’ll model stacked value across chemistries/durations and return a ranked shortlist with expected ROI/payback.

References

U.S. EPA. Energy Efficiency for Water Utilities. link
U.S. EPA. Energy Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities (Guide). pdf
CRS. Energy-Water Nexus: The Water Sector’s Energy Use. link
U.S. EPA. Strategies for Saving Energy at Public Water Systems. pdf
U.S. EPA (2024). Power Resilience: An Achievable Goal. pdf
CEC. Constructing a Microgrid for a Wastewater Treatment Facility (Laguna WWTP). link
NFPA 855. Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems. link
IFC 2021. Chapter 12 — Energy Systems. link
UL. Energy Storage System Testing & Certification (UL 9540). link
UL. UL 9540A Test Method for BESS. link
U.S. Treasury. ITC Elective Pay (Direct Pay) Explainer. pdf
IRS. Elective Pay & Transferability FAQs. link
National Grid (MA). ConnectedSolutions (C&I). link
Invinity & Scottish Water. VRFB + Solar Case Study. link
ESS Inc. Iron-Flow Chemistry. link
CEC (2023). Eos Aqueous Zinc Demo (non-flammable). link
Natron Energy. BluePack Industrial Datasheet (UL 9540A non-flammable). pdf
NGK Insulators. NAS Battery (Sodium-Sulfur). link
Alpha Water & Power. What We Do. link

Calculator

Bill Impact — worked example

Scenario: Medium WWTP on a TOU tariff with high demand charges.
Storage: 1 MW / 6 MWh non-lithium BESS, round-trip efficiency (RTE) 80%, 1 cycle/day.

Value Stream	Inputs	Calculation	Annual Value (Illustrative)
Demand charges	Peak shave = 700 kW $18/kW-mo	700 × 18 × 12	$151,200
TOU arbitrage	Spread = $0.09/kWh Daily discharge = 6,000 kWh × 0.80 RTE	6,000 × 0.80 × 0.09 × 365	$157,680
Demand response	Program pays $75/kW-yr for enrolled 500 kW	500 × 75	$37,500 [13]
Outage avoidance	2 events/yr avoided; restart/upset cost $20k/event	2 × 20,000	$40,000 [5]
Total stacked value	—	Sum of above	$386,380 / yr

Note: Results vary by tariff, peak coincidence, load volatility, and program rules. AWP’s free screen replaces these placeholders with your actual 15-minute load data and bill rates for bankable projections.

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