Load capping/peak shaving
In the energy sector, electricity consumption is also referred to as load. Load management thus describes the active control of electricity consumption and is an important component of the smart grid. To this end, the existing infrastructure is being equipped with intelligent information and control technologies.
So-called load peaks occur when businesses have significantly higher electricity consumption at certain times. Energy costs rise even when these spikes occur infrequently. This is because, for industrial and commercial customers with an annual energy consumption of 100,000 kWh or more, the network charge costs are made up of the demand and capacity charge. The background to this is that electricity suppliers have to hold these unplanned services permanently, even if they are only called up for a short time.
With the help of an energy storage system, companies can “cap” these peak loads. To do this, they call up the required energy from the battery storage during peak phases, thus bridging the peak load and saving costs.
How peak load capping works
For example, during the start-up of production facilities, the increased power consumption causes so-called load peaks in phases, which can sometimes result in very high costs. To cap peak loads above a certain level and reduce electricity costs, the company’s own power generation facilities can be added or battery storage can be used. The latter cover the required power demand by the stored energy. Electricity purchases thus remain within a defined, price-optimized range.
