The site
A construction site in Quebec was running entirely on a continuously operating backup generator before this system was installed.
To validate the sizing and demonstrate real performance, our engineering team at Volts Energies installed a Li-Cube Power system on site and monitored it for 57 straight days.
What we installed
For this trial, the system used only the container-mounted solar array, the smaller of two configurations recommended at design stage:
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10 solar panels (6.0 kWp total): four facing south, three angled east for morning production, three angled west for late-day production
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80 kWh of lithium battery storage
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Two 10 kW inverters (20 kW total conversion capacity)
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A 20 kW propane generator for backup
The full recommended configuration adds a second, pole-mounted rack of eight panels, bringing the array to 18 panels and 10.8 kWp. That upgrade wasn't part of this trial. See "What's next" below for what our projections show it would add.
57 days, tracked in full
From May 25 to July 22, 2026, the system carried the site's full electrical load, averaging 40.6 kWh of consumption per day. Solar covered 34.9% of that demand, with the propane generator supplying the rest.
That solar share came in during unusually poor conditions: 43 of the 68 recorded days were classified as heavy rain, well above a typical summer.
How the generator behaved
The generator started on 30 of the 57 days. When it ran, it didn't idle along at partial load. It performed a bulk recharge of the battery bank (an average of 59.3 kWh per start), then shut off again for a day or two while the batteries carried the site. That's the intended behavior: short bursts at high, efficient load instead of the low-load, continuous operation that wears out a generator fastest.
Total generator run time over the 57 days: approximately 122 hours, or about 2.1 hours a day, down from an estimated 1,368 hours of continuous running under the site's previous setup. That's a 91% reduction in run time.
What the numbers mean in fuel
Using the same fuel-consumption rate applied at the design stage (3.3 L/h), the previous continuous-generator setup would have burned an estimated 4,514 litres over the trial period, against roughly 402 litres for the Li-Cube Power backup generator, a saving in the order of 4,112 litres. These figures are estimates, not invoiced totals, and Volts Energies recommends confirming them against actual fuel delivery records once available.
What's next
The trial only used half of the recommended solar array. Adding the eight-panel pole-mounted rack (bringing the system to 18 panels, 10.8 kWp) is projected to cut the generator's contribution by another 43-56%, pushing the solar share of energy inputs from 35% up to somewhere between 63% and 72%, and generator run time down to roughly an hour a day.
Volts Energies also recommends tracking a winter period to complete a full annual picture, since consumption rises and solar production falls in the colder months.