Efficiency losses
Efficiency losses in the SpeicherCampus context: affect economic viability. Technically, the term is usually described as energy losses during charging and discharging.
What does efficiency losses mean?
Efficiency losses are the energy amounts lost between charging and discharging: in the power electronics (PCS), in the battery itself (internal resistance), in transformers, and in auxiliary consumption for cooling, control and standby. Taken together they yield the round-trip efficiency.
The losses are not a cosmetic flaw but a running cost: every stored kilowatt-hour becomes usable again only at 85-92 % — the operator buys the difference every single time.
What matters in practice
- assess losses at real operating points: part load is often less efficient
- standby consumption counts surprisingly heavily in low-load periods
- cooling is the largest auxiliary consumer — the concept choice shapes the balance
- losses belong as a cost line in the economic analysis
Practical example
A system shifts 60,000 kWh annually. At 88 % RTE, 7,200 kWh are lost — valued at the purchase price, a four-figure yearly item that was simply missing from the competitor’s offer.
The SpeicherCampus perspective
SpeicherCampus states efficiency losses explicitly in the project calculation — they belong to the honest picture, even if they make the offer look less shiny.