Tired of BESS commissioning delays? Start the process earlier than you think

Teams often treat the commissioning of battery energy storage systems (BESS) as a late-stage checkbox rather than a project-defining discipline. Projects can succeed or fail during commissioning. However, most commissioning failures stem from organizational, contractual, and procedural lapses rather than technical issues.

While many engineers and project managers bring deep experience in solar and wind, you can’t apply the same approaches to energy storage. Energy storage systems are more complex — both technically and commercially — and require a higher degree of integration, training, and engineering discipline to commission a battery energy storage system successfully.

A structured, phased commissioning plan brings every discipline together from the outset with clear tasks, ownership, dependencies in their sequential order, and minimizes surprises and delays. This approach not only safeguards project integrity and compliance but also establishes clear responsibilities, fosters ownership, collaboration, and accountability among project stakeholders.

Ownership, transparency, and accountability are non-negotiable.

Commissioning is not simply that final checkbox at the end of the project. Instead, effective commissioning begins at project initiation and continues as an ongoing process, overlapping with construction, through to acceptance testing.

Risks from early decisions made in isolation are often overlooked. However, their impacts become evident later in the project — triggering delays and costly fixes precisely when the schedule can least absorb them.

Commissioning problems often result from a lack of a cohesive, integrated plan that considers all stakeholders. While each contractor may have its own comprehensive Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix, minimizing commissioning risks requires a single, fully integrated RACI matrix that addresses all the project’s components and phases.

Defining ownership, clear roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and dependencies at the outset of the project ensures smooth handovers. EPCs, subcontractors, OEMs, owners, and other involved parties often identify scope gaps too late to avoid scheduling delays. These details, although small, are easily overlooked, yet can cause massive headaches and costs.

A fully integrated commissioning may seem prohibitively long, detailed, and too complicated for practical use. However, the lack of a master plan often results in rework, confusion, back-and-forth, and ultimately, schedule delays and liquidated damages. Planning for the entire commissioning sequence from the beginning through to project final acceptance reduces surprises later in the project. A good rule of thumb is to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised at the end.

From silos to signal: coordinating the whole commissioning team 

Facilitating communication across the entire team helps close gaps. While large calls with multiple parties may seem inefficient, so are commissioning delays! As painful as these calls may be, they remain a necessary investment of time to catch inconsistencies and miscommunication. Daily check-ins focused on commissioning and testing serve as essential touchpoints, breaking down silos, synchronizing activities, and clarifying accountability.

At this stage, a third-party commissioning expert becomes invaluable. A seasoned facilitator knows which questions to ask, spots potential red flags long before they turn into schedule killers, and guides both live discussions and asynchronous communication to keep progress on track.

Robust standards exist, but compliance doesn't always follow.

A common misconception is that BESS is too new and lacks robust regulatory standards, especially for fire risk and safety compliance.

In reality, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the National Electrical Code (NEC) have evolved in step with the industry, with meaningful updates such as UL9540A (5th edition), UL9540 (3rd edition), and new ESS-specific requirements in the upcoming 2026 NEC edition.

Additionally, long-standing international standards, like IEC 62619 and the IEC 62933 Series, provide comprehensive safety and performance codes and standards that are well-established, vetted, and globally referenced for decades.

The real issue with standards isn’t their existence — it lies in how seriously they are taken. It may be tempting to accelerate the design or testing process by selectively interpreting statutes and accepting the “minimum viable compliance” rather than delivering true industry best practices and high-quality adherence. This pressure often stems from the substantial financial incentives tied to the contractual completion milestones. When completion milestones trigger large contractor payments and give owners progress to report to investors, both sides feel the pull to “just get it done.” Under pressure, shortcuts can start to look appealing.

Common shortcuts I’ve seen include incomplete test reports, missing serial numbers and calibration certificates, omitted verification steps, and insufficient photographic documentation. In the worst cases, critical equipment such as medium‑voltage transformers or battery modules — impacting system capacity — end up on the punch list. Once that happens, the finger-pointing begins, or worse, teams walk away assuming “someone else will deal with it.”

Experienced contractors know the compliance standards. Shortcuts rarely result from ignorance — they come from gaps in structure, accountability, and oversight. A robust, well-designed commissioning plan is the strongest tool you have to minimize the opportunity for mistakes, both intentional and unintentional.

Commissioning ultimately tests project leadership, and many projects stumble right at the final stages. Yours does not have to be one of them. Don’t let your project fall into these preventable pitfalls; develop a well-informed plan from the beginning.