BESS section configurations
Every configuration the solver can place — the DC cluster geometry, the PCS & MV skid it pairs with, and how Auto chooses when you don't.
A BESS sectionis one DC cluster plus its dedicated PCS & MV skid — the repeating building block a site layout is assembled from. One hard rule underlies every configuration below: one skid serves exactly one cluster — a cluster is never split across two skids, and no DC block is ever placed without its skid. Everything else is geometry: how the cluster is arranged, and where its skid sits relative to it.
Every configuration works with either a 20 ft or a 40 ft PCS & MV skid.The geometry doesn’t care which — the skid slot fits both formats. What changes is the electrical sizing: the skid must convert the power its cluster delivers (MW = MWh ÷ hours), so duration and cluster size drive the natural pairing. Both formats model the NR Electric PCS-9567MV family — see Supported equipment.
On Auto, the solver applies its default pairing: a Solo takes a 20 ft skid, a 2×2 Quad a single 40 ft, and a 2×1 Twin follows the duration — 40 ft at 2h, 20 ft at 4h. A skid serves a fixed power, so blocks-per-skid scale with duration; that makes the one-skid Quad (2×2) 4h only— at 2h its four blocks draw more power than a 40 ft skid can convert, so at 2h a 2×2 builds as Quad Splitinstead: a skid on each DC row, two blocks per skid. The 2×2 footprint is available at both durations; only the skid count changes. The cards below show these defaults. If your project standardizes on a different composition — say two DC blocks on a 40 ft skid at 4h — the PCS config card forces your format (or a specific supported model) for every section; the pairing becomes your engineering call, and the solver builds the site from it. Richer composition options are on the roadmap.
A single DC block lying flat with its skid beside the cable end. The smallest section — the fallback that fits thin strips and leftover corners nothing else can use.
The Solo turned upright. Same equipment, different footprint — it fits strips too narrow for a flat Solo.
Two blocks joined on their blind long sides, doors facing outward both ways, skid beside the cable ends.
The L2L pair upright — the narrow-strip variant of the Twin.
Two blocks joined end-to-end on their blind short sides; the cable ends face outward, the skid sits along the long side.
Two L2L pairs mirrored around a central skid column — the shared aisle serves both pairs, which is what earns the mirror its density.
Two S2S pairs mirrored around central skids. Each pair keeps its own skid — the mirror shares the aisle, never the skid.
The sandwich: a DC row, the skid row, a DC row. The tightest twin arrangement on shallow sites.
A 2×2 built with a skid on each DC row — one above the top pair, one below the bottom pair — so each skid serves just two blocks. Each skid follows the Twin rule (40 ft at 2h, 20 ft at 4h), which is how the 2×2 footprint stays available at 2h: two skids convert the power a single skid can't.
The 2×2 cluster with one 40 ft skid — four blocks, one skid, one service perimeter. The densest single section. 4h only: at 2h the four blocks draw more power than a 40 ft skid can convert, so at 2h the 2×2 builds as Quad Split instead.
Two quads stacked with their skids between them, sharing the central aisle. Quad-based, so 4h only.
The workhorse: columns of quads whose skids sit in the mandatory gaps between DC bands, so the fire separation does double duty. On open rectangular ground at 4h this is usually what Auto builds; being quad-based, it is 4h only.
Two upright quads mirrored around central skids — the vertical counterpart of the Quad Stack. Quad-based, so 4h only.
Auto vs. forcing a configuration
On Auto, the solver tries the configuration families that fit your DC config setting and keeps the densest valid result per zone — which is why an irregular site often shows a mix: quads in the open field, twins in a narrower arm, a solo in a corner. Forcing a configuration pins every zone to that arrangement, which is the right call when your project standardizes on one section design — and a quick way to see exactly what that standard costs in capacity on your parcel.
The available configurations are filtered by your DC block configuration: forcing 2×1 hides the quad family, forcing 1×1 leaves only the solos. Duration filters them too— the one-skid Quad sections (Quad, Quad Stack, Quad Strip, Quad Mirror) are 4h only, but a 2×2 stays available at 2h as Quad Split. Diagrams above are shown at 4h with the default skid pairing; at 2h the twin configurations swap their 20 ft skids for 40 ft, the one-skid quads drop out, and a 2×2 builds as Quad Split with a 40 ft skid on each row.
Reading a layout
In a generated layout, the dark strip on each DC block marks its cable end — it always faces the skid or the outside of the cluster, never another blind side. Doors sit on the long sides facing an aisle. If you can trace every block to a skid and every door to open space, you are reading the layout the way the solver built it.