University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.

College of Engineering Third Class

Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

2.5- Variable Load on Power Station

• The function of a power station is to deliver power to a large number of

consumers.

• However, the power demands of different consumers vary in accordance

with their activities.

• The result of this variation in demand is that load on a power station is

never constant, rather it varies from time to time.

• The load on a power station varies from time to time due to uncertain

demands of the consumers is known as variable load on the station.

2.5.1- Load Curve:

• The curve showing the variation of load on the power station with

respect to time is known as a load curve.

• Daily load curve: It shows the variations of load with respect to time

during the day (i.e., 24 hours) as shown in figure 2.3.

Fig. 2.3: daily load curve of a power station.

1|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb
 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

• The area under the daily load curve gives the number of units generated

in the day.

Units generated/day = Area (in kWh) under daily load curve

• The highest point on the daily load curve represents the maximum

demand on the station on that day (It is clear that from fig. 2.3, being

maximum at 6 P.M. in this case).

• The area under the daily load curve divided by the total number of hours

gives the average load on the station in the day.

• Monthly load curve: It can be obtained from the daily load curves of

that month (average values of power over a month at different times of

the day are calculated and then plotted on the graph).

• Yearly load curve: It can be obtained by considering the monthly load

curves of that particular year.

• The yearly load curve is generally used to determine the annual load

factor.

2|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

2.5.2- Load Duration Curve:

• When the load elements of a load curve are arranged in the order of

descending magnitudes, the curve thus obtained is called a load duration

curve as shown in figure 2.4.

Fig. 2.4: load duration curve

• The load duration curve is obtained from the same data as the load curve

but the ordinates are arranged in the order of descending magnitudes.

• In other words, the maximum load is represented to the left and

decreasing loads are represented to the right in the descending order.

• Hence the area under the load duration curve and the area under the

load curve are equal. For example, 20 MW for 8 hours; 15 MW for 4

hours and 5 MW for 12 hours.

3|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

2.5.3- Base Load and Peak Load:

• The changing load on the power station makes its load curve of variable

nature.

• However, the load curve on a power station can be considered in two

parts, namely;

• Base load: The unvarying load which occurs almost the whole day on the

station is known as base load as shown in figure 2.5.

Fig. 2.5 beak and base loads

• It is clear that 20 MW of load has to be supplied by the station at all

times of day and night i.e. throughout 24 hours.

• Peak load: The various peak demands of load over and above the base

load of the station is known as peak load.

• It is clear that there are two peak demands of load in figure 10 excluding

base load.

4|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

• These peak demands of the station generally form a small part of the

total load.

2.5.4- Types of Loads:

• The load may be resistive (e.g., electric lamp), inductive (e.g., induction

motor), capacitive or some combination of them.

• The various types of loads on the power system are:

1- Residential Load:

• Consists of lights, fans, refrigerators, heaters, television, small

motors for pumping water etc.

• Most of the residential load occurs only for some hours during

the day (i.e., 24 hours) e.g., lighting load occurs during night time

and load occurs for few hours.

• For this reason, the load factor is low (10% to 12%).

2- Commercial load:

• It consists of lighting for shops, fans and electric equipment’s

used in restaurants etc.

• This class of load occurs for more hours during the day as

compared to the residential load.

• The commercial load has seasonal variations due to the

extensive use of air-conditioners and space heaters.

5|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

3- Industrial load:

• The magnitude of industrial load depends upon the type of

industry.

• Thus, small scale industry requires load up to 25 kW, medium

scale industry between 25kW and 100 kW and large-scale

industry requires load above 500 kW.

2.5.5-Important Terms and Factors:

1- Connected load:

It is the sum of continuous ratings of all the equipments connected to

supply system.

• A power station supplies load to thousands of consumers.

• Each consumer has certain equipment installed in his building.

• The sum of the continuous ratings of all the equipments in the

consumer’s building is the “connected load” of the consumer.

• For instance, if a consumer has connections of five 100-watt lamps

and a power point of 500 watts, then connected load of the

consumer is 5 × 100 + 500 = 1000 watts.

• The sum of the connected loads of all the consumers is the

connected load to the power station.

6|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

2- Maximum demand:

It is the greatest demand of load on the power station during a given

period.

• The load on the power station varies from time to time.

• The maximum of all the demands that have occurred during a given

period (say a day) is the maximum demand.

• Referring back to the load curve of Fig. 2.3, the maximum demand

on the power station during the day is 6 MW and it occurs at 6 P.M.

• Maximum demand is generally less than the connected load because

all the consumers do not switch on their connected load to the

system at a time.

• The knowledge of maximum demand is very important as it helps in

determining the installed capacity of the station.

• The station must be capable of meeting the maximum demand.

7|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

3- Demand factor:

It is the ratio of maximum demand on the power station to its connected

load i.e.,

• The value of demand factor is usually less than 1.

• It is expected because maximum demand on the power station is

less than the connected load.

• If the maximum demand on the power station is 80 MW and the

connected load is 100 MW, then demand factor = 80/100 = 0·8.

• The knowledge of demand factor is vital in determining the

capacity of the plant equipment

4- Average load (Average demand):

The average of loads occurring on the power station in a given period (day

or month or year).

8|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

5- Load factor:

The ratio of average load to the maximum demand during a given period

i.e.,

• The load factor may be daily load factor, monthly load factor or

annual load factor if the time period considered is a day or month

or year.

• Load factor is always less than 1 because average load is smaller

than the maximum demand.

• The load factor plays key role in determining the overall cost

• per unit generated.

• Higher the load factor of the power station, lesser will be the cost

per unit generated.

9|Page Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

Example 2.1:

A generating station has a connected load of 43MW and a maximum demand

of 20 MW; the units generated being 61·5 × 106 per annum. Calculate (i) the

demand factor and (ii) load factor.

6- Diversity factor:

The ratio of the sum of individual maximum demands to the maximum

demand on power station, i.e.,

• A power station supplies load to various types of consumers whose

maximum demands generally do not occur at the same time.

• Therefore, the maximum demand on the power station is always

less than the sum of individual maximum demands of the consumers.

• Obviously, diversity† factor will always be greater than 1.

10 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

• The greater the diversity factor, the lesser is the cost of

generation of power.

7- Plant capacity factor:

It is the ratio of actual energy produced to the maximum possible energy

that could have been produced during a given period i.e.,

• Thus, if the considered period is one year,

• The plant capacity factor is an indication of the reserve capacity

of the plant.

• A power station is so designed that it has some reserve capacity

for meeting the increased load demand in future.

• Therefore, the installed capacity of the plant is always somewhat

greater than the maximum demand on the plant.

11 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

8- Plant use factor:

It is ratio of kWh generated to the product of plant capacity and the

number of hours for which the plant was in operation i.e.

• Suppose a plant having installed capacity of 20 MW produces annual

output of 7·35 × 106 kWh and remains in operation for 2190 hours

in a year. Then,

Example 2.2:

A generating station has a maximum demand of 25MW, a load factor of

60%, a plant capacity factor of 50% and a plant use factor of 72%. Find

(i) the reserve capacity of the plant (ii) the daily energy produced and (iii)

maximum energy that could be produced daily if the plant while running as

per schedule, were fully loaded.

12 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

Example 2.3:

13 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

14 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

15 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

Example 2.4:

16 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

17 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb

 University of Anbar Electric Power I/1st Sem.
College of Engineering Third Class
Dept. of Electrical Engineering 2022-2023

18 | P a g e Dr. Mushtaq Najeeb