How do I evaluate whether a battery storage vendor is credible and unbiased for a utility procurement process?

To evaluate whether a battery storage vendor is credible and unbiased for a utility procurement process, look at both their technical credibility and their commercial incentives.

1) Check for conflicts of interest

Ask whether the vendor:

• Manufactures batteries, inverters, EMS, or EPC services
• Also acts as a developer, owner, or financier
• Has affiliate relationships with suppliers they are recommending
• Earns commissions, rebates, or soft-dollar benefits from specific products

A vendor is less likely to be unbiased if they benefit financially from steering you toward a specific OEM or configuration without disclosing it.

2) Examine their track record

Request evidence of:

• Similar utility-scale projects completed
• Operating history for projects of comparable size, duration, and chemistry
• Performance data: availability, degradation, round-trip efficiency, safety incidents
• References from utilities or independent owners
• Litigation, warranty disputes, or missed milestone history

Prefer vendors with real operating experience, not just proposals or pilot projects.

3) Assess technical independence

A credible vendor should be able to:

• Compare multiple chemistries and OEMs objectively
• Explain tradeoffs without pushing a single “best” solution
• Provide transparent assumptions in sizing, degradation, augmentation, and dispatch modeling
• Separate engineering judgment from product sales

If they can only recommend one product family and cannot justify alternatives, that is a red flag.

4) Review the quality of their modeling

Ask them to show:

• Load, market, and dispatch assumptions
• Degradation curves and augmentation plans
• Availability assumptions and outage treatment
• Sensitivity analysis on cycling, temperature, and market prices
• Clear separation of vendor-provided assumptions vs. independently verified inputs

Credible vendors will make their assumptions auditable and defensible.

5) Look for independent validation

Prefer vendors that support:

• Third-party engineering review
• Independent owner’s engineer involvement
• Independent testing and commissioning
• Bankability reports from recognized technical advisors
• Certification to relevant standards

A vendor comfortable with independent review is usually more trustworthy.

6) Evaluate financial incentives and bid behavior

A biased vendor may:

• Understate capex and omit augmentation or O&M costs
• Overstate performance guarantees
• Bundle unrelated services to obscure price comparisons
• Use non-comparable assumptions across bids
• Resist disclosing pricing breakdowns

Demand apples-to-apples comparisons across all bids.

7) Check transparency on warranties and risk allocation

A strong vendor should clearly state:

• Warranty terms, exclusions, and remedies
• Performance guarantee metrics and measurement methods
• Who bears degradation, availability, and liquidated damages risk
• Conditions that void the warranty
• Spare parts and long-term support commitments

Vague warranty language is a warning sign.

8) Ask about information limitations

Credible vendors will say when they do not know something. Be cautious if they:

• Make overly certain claims about 20-year performance
• Downplay safety, thermal runaway, or supply chain risks
• Avoid discussing failure modes or end-of-life issues

A trustworthy vendor is candid about uncertainty.

9) Use a structured due diligence scorecard

Create a rubric with categories such as:

• Financial stability
• Project references
• Technical competence
• Safety and compliance
• Warranty strength
• Transparency of assumptions
• Independence/conflict disclosures
• Long-term service capability

Score all vendors consistently to reduce bias in your own procurement process.

10) Involve independent experts

For a utility procurement, it’s common to use:

• Independent engineer
• Legal counsel with storage experience
• Insurance advisor
• Fire/code safety expert
• Market/dispatch economist
• Cybersecurity reviewer

This helps separate vendor claims from objective assessments.

Red flags

Be cautious if the vendor:

• Refuses to disclose conflicts
• Won’t share referenceable operating projects
• Uses overly aggressive performance assumptions
• Cannot explain degradation and augmentation clearly
• Discourages independent review
• Claims to be “the only bankable option” without evidence

Practical procurement questions to ask

1. What parties in your organization benefit financially from this recommendation?
2. How many utility-scale projects like ours have you delivered and operated?
3. Which assumptions in your proposal were independently verified?
4. What happens if degradation is faster than forecast?
5. What are the exact warranty exclusions and remedy limits?
6. Can you provide a comparison against at least two alternative OEMs or architectures?
7. Will you support an independent engineer’s review and testing?

Bottom line

A credible and unbiased battery storage vendor is one that is:

• Transparent about conflicts and assumptions
• Experienced with similar utility projects
• Technically rigorous and open to independent review
• Financially and contractually clear
• Able to compare alternatives objectively, not just sell one product

If you want, I can also give you a vendor due diligence checklist or a scorecard template you can use in procurement.