Charging power
Charging power in the SpeicherCampus context: determines how quickly energy can be absorbed. Technically, the term is usually described as power during charging.
What does charging power mean?
Charging power is the maximum power in kW at which a storage system can absorb energy. It determines how quickly the capacity fills — and with it, whether short surplus phases and tight charging windows can be used at all.
Charging and discharging power are often, but not always, symmetrical. In some systems, cell chemistry or temperature limits the charging side more — in winter, permissible charging power can drop noticeably.
What matters in practice
- match charging power to the PV surplus peak: whatever is not absorbed gets exported or curtailed
- watch the C-rate: 0.5P means a full charge in two hours
- clarify temperature dependence (datasheet values apply at 25 °C)
- for arbitrage and dynamic tariffs, charging power counts double
Practical example
A 120 kWp PV system delivers 70 kW of surplus at midday. A storage system with only 30 kW of charging power captures less than half of it — the rest goes to the grid at a low feed-in rate. The right charging power would have turned the balance around.
The SpeicherCampus perspective
SpeicherCampus matches charging power against the surplus curve from PV simulation and load profile — it is its own design criterion, not a side note.