DC block configuration

The DC block is the containerized battery unit — the building block of every BESS layout. Each block design has its own side roles, clearance requirements, and stacking rules that determine how the solver packs a site.

The four sides of a DC block

A DC block is not symmetric. Each side has a role, and each role sets its own clearance.

The number and placement of doors, cable connections, and cooling equipment varies between manufacturers. Each design stacks differently and needs its own clearance profile. The pages below cover each supported design in detail — dimensions, service clearance per side, and how blocks of that type form sections.

Supported DC block designs

What the DC config setting does

The DC config picker constrains which section sizes the solver may use:

• Auto — the solver chooses per site: Quad where space allows, stepping down to Twin or Solo where a zone is too small for a quad.
• Quad / Twin / Solo — restricts the solver to that size and smaller. A forced choice decomposes downward (a Quad site may still use twins in a leftover strip) but never escalates: forcing Twin guarantees no quad appears.

The Quad is available at both durations, but the skid count changes. A skid converts a fixed power, so at 4h a Quad runs on one 40 ft skid; at 2h its four blocks exceed that and it builds as Quad Split, two skids, one per DC row.

Force a section size when your project standard, supplier, or O&M concept is built around one configuration. Otherwise leave it on Auto: the per-zone fallback is what lets an irregular boundary use all of its space.

DC block section size and density

Every section needs its own skid and its own service perimeter. Fewer, larger sections mean fewer skids and less clearance area per MWh, so the same boundary holds more energy with Quads than with Solos. Skid pairing per section size is covered in BESS section configurations.