What is load management and how can your charging infrastructure benefit from it?
What is load management in the emobility context?
Load management refers to the ability to balance and distribute the charging capacity during charging sessions. This is particularly important when you have multiple chargers, as simultaneous charging of several vehicles can lead to a significant increase in electricity demand that may not be met due to technical restrictions like a maximum charging capacity on location. In this case, the system can regulate the charging capacity by prioritizing selected charge points or equally distributing the available electricity among all occupied charge points.
At vaylens, load management is currently only available for AC chargers.
We distinguish between local load management and dynamic load management:
Local load management
Local load management can be directly configured on the charger. It is currently only available for Compleo eBox Professional with firmware 2.0.34 and higher.
To set up local load management, a load management group consisting of all charge points that need to be managed according to the load strategy needs to be created. Within this group, there is one "Cluster" which refers to the charge point that is managing the load management for this load management group. All other charge points are referred to as "Nodes".
For local load management, you can choose between the following charging strategies:
- First come, first serve: The first charge point connected to a vehicle is served first and so on which results in a decreasing charging capacity with each following vehicle.
- Smart distribution: The charging capacity is distributed between the charging vehicles dependent on the overall load limit of the load management group with the goal of an efficient and balanced energy distribution.
- Equal distribution: All charge points are provided with the same charging capacity.
In vaylens, local load management can be accessed via Manage > Load management and by selecting the Local tab. Clicking on the Open in new window icon on the right redirects you to the local configuration interface.
Dynamic load management
With dynamic load management, the available charging capacity is balanced automatically between charging vehicles. Here, too, a load management group consisting of all charge points that need to be managed according to the load strategy needs to be created.
Dynamic load management is configured in vaylens portal. As it is not configured on the local charger but in the backend, its reliability depends on the internet connection between charger and backend. If the connection is interrupted, load control is not possible.
For dynamic load management, you can choose between the following charging strategies:
- Dynamic limits: The charging capacity is distributed dynamically between the charging vehicles dependent on the overall load limit of the load management group with the goal of an efficient and balanced energy distribution.
- Demand Clearing House: Load control is performed by an external system, respecting signals from the a grid operator who can temporarily limit your load management group.
The Demand clearing house strategy can only be set up if a contract with the grid operator for the control of the corresponding charge points has been concluded beforehand.
When entering into a contract with your grid operator, you will be provided with access data and a so-called DCH ID which needs to be entered in vaylens portal. For vaylens, only grid operators who are members of InGA can take the role as a demand clearing house.
What is InGA?
"The Intelligent Grid Application (InGA) is a simple and cost-effective solution that allows grid-supportive management of the charging infrastructure via a standardized interface for the benefit of all parties." (InGA, 16.05.2024)
InGA utilises the existing communication between your chargers and vaylens to influence charging processes in grid-critical situations. The distribution of charging capacities is therefore not only dependent on the load limit of the load management group, but also takes into account the electricity demand on the grid.
If you want to know more about InGA, please refer to the InGA website.
How to add load management to your plan?
Load management comes as additional product feature that can be integrated in your existing plan. We distinguish between "Dynamic load management" and "Local load management" based on the above explanation. Load management is charged with a monthly fee per charge point that is assigned to this product.
If you wish to add the load management feature to your product portfolio, please reach out to our sales team at help@emobility.service.
What to do once the product feature is booked?
Once the product has been added to your account, it will be shown as "Dynamic load management AC" or "Local Loadmanagement (AC)" in vaylens portal. In order to profit from the service, you need to assign chargers to the load management product first. Go to Manage Business Partners > Assign Products. Select the product and an extended overview opens. Click on the Plus at the top right to choose the chargers which need to be assigned.
For more information about how to assign products to a charger, please refer to our guide How to assign products.
To configure local load management, please refer to the external interface which is accessible via Manage > Load management > Local.
In order to manage your charging infrastructure with dynamic load management, your charge points need to be clustered in groups which can then be configured and administrated. For a detailed look into the group management, please refer to our guide Dynamic load management.