Load balancing appears in every charger quote, but is rarely explained well.
Yet it makes the difference between an installation that runs for years without malfunctions and one that trips the main fuse or structurally causes higher grid costs. What it is, which types exist and when you need which type.
What is load balancing?
Load balancing automatically distributes the available electrical power between different consumers, in this case one or more charging points and possibly the rest of the building. That way, the maximum power of the connection is never exceeded.
The gain: you install more charging points than your connection strictly allows, because they never all charge at full power at the same time.
And you avoid a charging session tripping the main fuse when the building is using a lot of power elsewhere.
Static versus dynamic load balancing
Static load balancing splits a fixed budget. An installation with 4 charging points and 22 kW divides those 22 kW across the active sessions, regardless of what the rest of the building uses. Available power elsewhere is therefore not used.
Dynamic load balancing measures at every moment how much power the rest of the building draws and continuously adjusts the power available for the charging points. At night, when an office is almost empty, the charging points get nearly the full connection. During the day, when machines and HVAC are running, they automatically scale back.
For most SME and co-ownership installations, dynamic load balancing is the standard today. The extra cost compared with static is limited, the operational gain large: more charging points on the same connection, without a grid upgrade.
When is load balancing strictly necessary?
From 2 charging points on the same connection
In a home or small business, to charge simultaneously without tripping the fuse.
When a grid upgrade is expensive or impossible
Such as in older business premises or co-ownerships. Read also what to do when grid capacity is too limited.
With other heavy consumers
A heat pump, production machinery, refrigeration.
In combination with solar panels and a battery
To make maximum use of your own generation. When that combination pays off: chargers with solar panels and a battery.
Points of attention during installation
- The sensor in the fuse box must be correctly sized and configured. An incorrect measurement makes the whole system unreliable.
- The software must handle imbalance in three-phase connections: not every household or business spreads its power evenly across the three phases.
- With a later expansion with extra charging points, a battery or a heat pump, the logic must grow along. Choose a charger and back office that can be expanded.
- For co-ownerships, a shared load balancing layer at building level is essential for individual billing to work correctly.
What it delivers in figures
How load balancing also reduces your capacity tariff: capacity tariff and smart charging.
One partner, from measurement to management
Certipower installs, measures, manages and bills. At home, on the company site, in co-ownerships and on the road.
More charging points without a grid upgrade?
We measure your connection and propose a setup that grows with your needs.
- Measurement of your connection and heavy consumers
- A setup that grows with charging points, battery or heat pump
- A proposal with investment and avoided grid costs