University of Diyala -College of Engineering

Dept. of Power and Electrical Machines

Subject: Electrical Power Engineering 3rd year.

Variable Load on Power Stations

Variable Load on Power Stations

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Introduction:

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.
Most of the complexities of modern power plant operation arise from the inherent
variability of the load demanded by the users.

Effects of variable load:

The variable load on a power station introduces many perplexities in its operation.
Some of the important effects of variable load on a power station are :
(i) Need of additional equipment. The variable load on a power station necessitates
to haveadditional equipment. By way of illustration, consider a steam power
station. Air, coal and water are the raw materials for this plant. In order to produce
variable power, the supply of these materials will be required to be varied
correspondingly.
(ii) Increase in production cost. The variable load on the plant increases the cost of
the production of electrical energy. An alternator operates at maximum efficiency
near its rated capacity. If a single alternator is used, it will have poor efficiency
during periods of light loads on the plant. 3
Therefore, in actual practice, a number of alternators of different capacities are
installed so that most of the alternators can be operated at nearly full load
capacity.

Load Curves
The curve showing the variation of load on the power station with respect to (w.r.t)time
is known as a load curve.
The load on a power station is never constant; it varies from time to time. These load
variations during the whole day (i.e.,24 hours) are recorded half-hourly or hourly and are
plotted against time on the graph. The curve thus obtained is known as daily load curve.

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The monthly load curve can be obtained from the daily load curves of that month. For this
purpose, average*values of power over a month at different times of the day are calculated
and then plotted on the graph.
The monthly load curve is generally used to fix the rates of energy.
The yearly load curve is obtained by considering the monthly load curves of that particular
year. The yearly load curve is generally used to determine the annual load factor.

Importance.
The daily load curves have attained a great importance in generation as they supply the
following information readily :
(i) The daily load curve shows the variations of load on the power station during different
hours of the day.

(ii) 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.

(iii) The highest point on the daily load curve represents the maximum demand on the
station on that day.

(iv) The area under the daily load curve divided by the total number of hours gives the
average load on the station in the day.

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(v) The ratio of the area under the load curve to the total area of rectangle in which it is
contained gives the load factor.

(vi) The load curve helps in selecting the size and number of generating units.

(vii) The load curve helps in preparing the operation schedule of the station.

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 Important Terms and Factors
(i) Connected load. It is the sum of continuous ratings of all the equipments connected to
supply system. 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.

(ii) Maximum demand : It is the greatest demand of load on the power station during a
given period. 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.

(iii) Demand factor. It is the ratio of maximum demand on the power station to its
connected load.

(iv) Average load. The average of loads occurring on the power station in a given period
(day or month or year)is known as average load or average demand.

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(v) Load factor. The ratio of average load to the maximum demand during a given
period is known as load factor 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.
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(vi) Diversity factor. The ratio of the sum of individual maximum demands to the
maximum demand on power station is known as diversity factor 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.

(vii) 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.

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 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.
Reserve capacity = Plant capacity Max. demand
It is interesting to note that difference between load factor and plant capacity factor is an
indication of reserve capacity. If the maximum demand on the plant is equal to the plant
capacity, then load factor and plant capacity factor will have the same value. In such a case,
the plant will have no reserve capacity.

(viii) 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 735 10

6 kWh and remains in operation for 2190 hours in a year. Then,

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Units Generated per Annum
It is often required to find the kWh generated per annum from maximum demand and
load factor. The procedure is as follows :

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.

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The following points may be noted about load duration curve :

(i) The load duration curve gives the data in a more presentable form. In other words,
it readily shows the number of hours during which the given load has prevailed.

(ii) The area under the load duration curve is equal to that of the corresponding load
curve. Obviously, area under daily load duration curve (in kWh) will give the units
generated on that day.

(iii) The load duration curve can be extended to include any period of time. By laying
out the abscissa from 0 hour to 8760 hours, the variation and distribution of demand
for an entire year can be summarised in one curve. The curve thus obtained is called
the annual load duration curve.

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Types of Loads
A device which taps electrical energy from the electric power system is called a load on the system.
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 :

(i) Domestic load. Domestic 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 domestic appliance load occurs
for only a few hours. For this reason, the load factor is low (10% to 12%).

(ii) Commercial load. Commercial load consists of lighting for shops, fans and electric appliances used in restaurants
etc. This class of load occurs for more hours during the day as compared to
the domestic load. The commercial load has seasonal variations due to the extensive use of airconditioners and
space heaters.

(iii) Industrial load. Industrial load consists of load demand by industries. The magnitude of
industrial load depends upon the type of industry. Thus small scale industry requires load upto
25 kW, medium scale industry between 25kW and 100 kW and large-scale industry requires load
above 500 kW. Industrial loads are generally not weather dependent.

(iv) Municipal load. Municipal load consists of street lighting, power required for water supply and drainage
purposes. Street lighting load is practically constant throughout the hours of the
night. For water supply, water is pumped to overhead tanks by pumps driven by electric motors.
Pumping is carried out during the off-peak period, usually occurring during the night. This helps to
improve the load factor of the power system.

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(v) Irrigation load. This type of load is the electric power needed for pumps driven by
motors to supply water to fields. Generally this type of load is supplied for 12 hours
during night.

(vi) Traction load. This type of load includes tram cars, trolley buses, railways etc. This
class of load has wide variation. During the morning hour, it reaches peak value
because people have to go to their work place. After morning hours, the load starts
decreasing and again rises during evening since the people start coming to their
homes.

Typical Demand and Diversity Factors

The demand factor and diversity factor depend on the type of load and its magnitude.

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 Illustration.
Load and demand factors are always less than 1 while diversity factors are more
than unity. High load and diversity factors are the desirable qualities of the power system.
Indeed, these factors are used to predict the load. Fig. 3.4 shows a
small part of electric power system where a distribution transformer is supplying power
to the consumers. For simplicity, only three consumers a, b, and care shown in the figure.
The maximum demand of consumer ais the product of its connected load and the
appropriate demand factor.
Same is the case for consumers band c. The maximum demand on
the transformeris the sum of a, band cs maximum demands divided by the
diversity factors between the consumers.
Similarly, the maximum demand on the feeder is the sum of
maximum demands on the distribution transformers
connected to it divided by the diversity factor
between transformers. Likewise diversification between
feeders is recognised when obtaining substation maximum
demands and substation diversification when predicting
maximum load on the power station. Note that diversity
factor is the sum of the individual maximum demands of the subdivisions of a system
taken as they may occur during the daily cycle divided
by the maximum simultaneous demand of the system.
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Example 2.1. The maximum demand on a power station is 100 MW. If the annual
load factor is 40% , calculate the total energy generated in a year.

Solution.

Example 2.2
A generating station has a connected load of 43MW and a maximum demand of
20 MW; the units generated being 615 10^6 per annum.
Calculate (i)the demand factor and (ii) load factor.
Solution.

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