Most 30% designs look complete—but they rarely survive permitting.

In utility-scale battery storage, there’s no shortage of good-looking 30% designs. At that stage, drawings are clean, organized, and confidently optimistic. They’re used to secure financing, advance queue positions, and appease stakeholders. But more often than not, they’re also riddled with placeholder assumptions, missing inputs, and site realities no one’s quite ready to deal with.

The result? Projects that look like they’re moving forward—but stall before they ever break ground.

At FastGrid, we’ve reviewed dozens of early-stage BESS designs. Very few are built to get to notice to proceed (NTP). And in today’s market, that gap between design and delivery is where momentum—and margin—gets lost.

What a 30% Design Is—and What It Isn’t

30% is often treated like a finish line for early-stage engineering. But in reality, it’s just a checkpoint. And a particularly dangerous one if the wrong assumptions slip through.

At this stage, most designs still rely on:

• Unverified site conditions and access constraints
• Placeholder equipment specs not grounded in procurement reality
• Missing trench profiles, crane paths, or thermal management layouts
• Deferred fire code compliance and SCADA routing

These issues aren’t superficial. They’re foundational. They impact everything that follows: permitting, procurement, interconnection, and field execution.

Developers routinely spend 10–15% of their project time resolving layout and access issues that could have been flagged with better coordination upfront. Fire code violations, particularly related to UL 9540A recommended spacing and NFPA 855 compliance, are now a top driver of NTP-stage delays.

And battery storage projects in the U.S. currently lag their projected start dates by an average of 14 months, underscoring just how often early-phase design gaps ripple into late-stage execution setbacks.

From Assumption to Rework: What Owners Actually Experience

On paper, 30% feels like progress. But for owners, it often signals the start of painful surprises.

Layouts that don’t consider trenching. Inverter pads that can’t be accessed by crane. Auxiliary systems that aren’t accounted for in electrical or civil drawings. Fire safety specs that don’t pass AHJ review. Procurement mismatches that derail ITC eligibility or domestic content bonuses.

After industry fire events, jurisdictions have begun requiring more intensive site-specific hazard mitigation plans, increased conditional use reviews, and stricter spacing protocols from day one. If those requirements aren’t accounted for at 30%, they almost certainly trigger redesign.

FastGrid’s Perspective: 30% Should Be a Stress Test, Not a Sketch

At FastGrid, we don’t treat 30% like a milestone. We treat it like a checkpoint—a chance to identify what won’t work before it becomes a change order.

Our early-phase design and OE reviews are built to test:

• Can the layout be permitted and constructed without variances, regrading, or redesign?
• Does the trenching plan accommodate SCADA, auxiliary loads, and emergency access?
• Are the equipment specs viable within the procurement schedule and ITC strategy?
• Will the layout pass both AHJ and insurer review without revision?

This isn’t just QA—it’s risk mitigation. And it’s essential.

In one solar-plus-storage installation, FastGrid reviewed a 30% submittal that would’ve been rejected due to inadequate spacing and routing. Our OE team coordinated directly with permitting authorities to revise the layout and address key site constraints, allowing the project to clear review six weeks ahead of schedule.

In another 200+ MW BESS installation, our team supported the project from battery delivery through commissioning. We resolved grounding conflicts, interconnection gaps, and SCADA test failures in real time, helping the owner reach COD without rework or delay.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

The gap between 30% and NTP is growing wider. Projects are getting larger. Codes are getting tighter. AHJs are getting stricter. And incentives like the 10% domestic content bonus and interconnection queue milestones mean developers have more to lose than ever.

Yet the drawings coming out at 30%? Still built to impress, not survive.

We’ve seen plan sets that forgot emergency vehicle access. Systems with no room for augmentation. Trenches that neglected to consider thermal impacts. Inverters that couldn’t be lifted without removing fencing. These aren’t just design oversights—they’re commercial liabilities.

If Your 30% Design Can’t Get You to NTP, It’s Not Progress

At FastGrid, we do more than make drawings look good. We make them to hold up—under pressure, under permitting, and under construction.

Whether we’re providing early-phase design, owner’s engineering, or milestone review, our focus is the same: help developers move forward without circling back.

Because in BESS, the fastest projects aren’t the ones that move first. They’re the ones that don’t move backward.

If your 30% design doesn’t have NTP in sight, let’s talk.