GridBeyond now offers revenue floor and synthetic toll contracts in ERCOT and CAISO

Earning revenue in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) storage markets has fundamentally shifted under the weight of rapid capacity growth, prompting the emergence of a wide array of optimization services.  

GridBeyond now offers customizable revenue floor and sythetic (virtual) toll contracts for select power storage projects in these markets. These contracts, underwritten by investment-grade partners, can help asset owners de-risk their balance sheets and secure financing.

Each contract is tailored to the owner’s preference. Options range from paying no upfront premium in exchange for sharing part of the revenue upside, to paying only a contract premium and keeping all upside revenues.

The revenue floor agreement guarantees a minimum income over a defined period, protecting operators from downside market volatility. The tolling agreement model provides fixed payments while GridBeyond optimizes and dispatches assets via its AI-powered platform.

Battery storage tolling contracts come in two primary forms: physical and virtual (synthetic) tolling.

Under a physical tolling agreement, the off­taker rents the asset and typically pays a fixed capacity fee – often per megawatt per year. The battery owner retains ownership and manages maintenance but grants the offtaker full operational control, including charging and dispatching.

Unlike traditional tolling where the offtaker physically controls the asset, virtual tolling involves only financial settlements. Under such contracts, the owner retains operational control of the battery, while the offtaker sets the virtual charge and discharge schedule. Premiums vary depending on the offtaker’s involvement in the asset’s operation.

Ali Karimian, market optimisation director at GridBeyond, explains how virtual tolling works.

“In a synthetic toll, toll offtaker gets paid a value based on the realized energy prices as defined in the contract. These contracts usually define the payoff based on the spread of top and bottom energy prices at the same node as the project or at the hub. The asset owner keeps the trading and optimization of the project in this model. They profit when earnings exceed the toll fee; they risk underperformance when earnings fall below it,” he tells ESS News.

Karimian adds that GridBeyond actively optimizes and manages batteries in CAISO, ERCOT, Ireland, UK and Japan, with expansion plans into PJM in 2026. “The experience of managing batteries in different markets has helped us and our clients be prepared with any paradigm in the market and swiftly adapt with market changes,” he says.