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UNIT I 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 will never be 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.
Unfortunately, electrical power cannot be stored and, therefore, the power station must produce
power as and when demanded to meet the requirements of the consumers.
On one hand, the power engineer would like that the alternators in the power station should run
at their rated capacity for maximum efficiency and on the other hand, the demands of the consumers
have wide variations. This makes the design of a power station highly complex. In this chapter, we shall
focus our attention on the problems of variable load on power stations.

Variable Load on Power Station


The load on a power station varies from time to time due to uncertain demands of the consumers
and is known as variable load on the station.
A power station is designed to meet the load requirements of the consumers. An ideal load on the
station, from stand point of equipment needed and operating routine, would be one of constant
magnitude and steady duration. However, such a steady load on the station is never realized in actual
practice. The consumers require their small or large block of power in accordance with the demands of
their activities. Thus the load demand of one consumer at any time may be different from that of the
other consumer. The result is that load on the power station varies from time to time.

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, 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 air conditioners 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 up to 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.
(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.

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 having additional 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.
For instance, if the power demand on the plant increases, it must be followed by the increased
flow of coal, air and water to the boiler in order to meet the increased demand. Therefore, additional
equipment has to be installed to accomplish this job. As a matter of fact, in a modern power plant, there
is much equipment devoted entirely to adjust the rates of supply of raw materials in accordance with the
power demand made on the plant.

(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. 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. However, the use of a number of generating units increases the initial cost per kW of
the plant capacity as well as floor area required. This leads to the increase in production cost of energy.

Important Terms and Factors


The variable load problem has introduced the following terms and factors in power plant engineering:

(i) 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 premises. The sum of the continuous ratings of all the equipments in the consumers
premises 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.

(ii) 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. Thus referring back to the load
curve of Fig. 3.2, 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.

Demand Factor

Demand Factor = Maximum demand of a system / Total connected load on the system

Demand factor is always less than one.

Example: if a residence having 6000W equipment connected has a maximum demand of 3300W,
than demand factor = 6000W / 3300W = 55%.

The lower the demand factor, the less system capacity required to serve the connected load.

Feeder-circuit conductors should have an ampere sufficient to carry the load; the ampere of the
feeder-circuit need not always be equal to the total of all loads on all branches connected to it.

Remember that the demand factor permits a feeder-circuit ampere to be less than 100% of the
sum of all branch-circuit loads connected to the feeder.

Diversity factor / simultaneity factor (Ks)

Diversity Factor = Sum of Individual Max. Demand. / Max. Demand on Power Station.

Diversity Factor = Installed load. / Running load.

Diversity factor is usually more than one. (Since the sum of individual max. demands >Max.
Demand)

The load is time dependent as well as being dependent upon equipment characteristics. The
diversity factor recognizes that the whole load does not equal the sum of its parts due to this time
Interdependence (i.e. diverseness).

When the maximum demand of a supply is being assessed it is not sufficient to simply add
together the ratings of all electrical equipment that could be connected to that supply. If this is
done, a figure somewhat higher than the true maximum demand will be produced. This is
because it is unlikely that all the electrical equipment on a supply will be used simultaneously.

The concept of being able to De-rate a potential maximum load to an actual maximum demand is
known as the application of a diversity factor.

70% diversity means that the device in question operates at its nominal or maximum load level
70% of the time that it is connected and turned on.

If total installed full load ampere is twice your running load ampere then the diversity factor is
two.

If total installed full load ampere is four times your load a ampere then the diversity factor is four.

If everything (all electrical equipment) was running at full load at the same time the diversity
factor is equal to One

Greater the diversity factor, lesser is the cost of generation of power.

Diversity factor in a distribution network is the ratio of the sum of the peak demands of the
individual customers to the peak demand of the network.

This will be determined by the type of service, i.e., residential, commercial, industrial and
combinations of such.

Example I: One Machine Shop has Fluorescent fixtures=1 No, 5kw each, Receptacle outlets =15 No,
1500w each. Lathe=1No, 10 Hp, Air Compressor=1 No, 20 Hp, Fire Pump=1 No, 15 Hp.
After questioning the customer about the various loads, the information is further deciphered as follows:
1. The shop lights are on only during the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
2. The receptacle outlets are in the office only, and will have computers and other small loads
plugged into them.

3. The lathe is fully loaded for 5 minutes periods. The rest of the time is setup time. This procedure
repeats every 15 minutes.
4. The air compressor supplies air to air tools and cycles off and on about half the time.
5. The fire pump only runs for 30 minutes when tested which is once a month after hours.

Lighting Demand Factor = Demand Interval Factor x Diversity Factor.


(15 minute run time/ 15 minutes) x 1.0 = 1.0
Lighting Demand Load = 5 kW x 1.0 = 5 kW

Receptacle Outlet Demand Factor = Demand Interval Factor x Diversity Factor


(15 minute run time / 15 minutes) x 0.1 = 0.1
Receptacle Outlet Demand Load = 15 x 1500 watts x 0.1 = 2.25 kW

Lathe Demand Factor = Demand Interval Factor x Diversity Factor.


(5 minute run time / 15 minutes) x 1.0 =0 .33
Lathe Demand Load = 10 hp x .746 x .33 = 2.46 kW

Air Compressor Demand Factor = Demand Interval Factor x Diversity Factor.


(7.5 minute run time / 15 minutes) x 1.0 = 0.5
Air Compressor Demand Load = 20 hp x .746 x .5 = 7.46 kW

Fire Pump Demand Factor = Demand Interval Factor x Diversity Factor.


(15 minute run time/ 15 minutes) x 0.0 = 0.0
Fire Pump Demand Load = 15 hp x .746 x 0.0 = 0.0 kW

Summary of Demand Loads :


Equipment

kW

D.F.

Demand KW

Receptacle Outlets

22.5

.1

2.25

Lathe

7.5

.33

2.46

Air Compressor

15

0.5

7.46

11.25

0.0

0.0

Lighting

Fire Pump
TOTAL

61.25 Kw

17.17 Kw

Example II: A distribution feeder serves 5 houses, each of which has a peak demand of 5 KW. The feeder
peak turns out to be 20 kw. The diversity is then 20/25 or 0.8. This results from the timing differences
between the individual heating/cooling, appliance usages in the individual customers.

As supply availability decreases, the diversity factor will tend to increase toward 1.00. This can be
demonstrated when restoring service after outages (called cold starts) as the system initial
surge can be much greater than the historical peak loads.

Example-III: A sub-station has three outgoing feeders:


1. feeder 1 has maximum demand 10 MW at 10:00 am,
2. feeder 2 has maximum demand 12 MW at 7:00 pm and
3. feeder 3 has maximum demand 15 MW at 9:00 pm,
4. While the maximum demand of all three feeders is 33 MW at 8:00 pm.

Here, the sum of the maximum demand of the individual sub-systems (feeders) is 10 + 12 + 15 =
37 MW, while the system maximum demand is 33 MW. The diversity factor is 37/33 = 1.12. The
diversity factor is usually greater than 1; its value also can be 1 which indicates the maximum
demand of the individual sub-system occurs simultaneously.

Diversity is the relationship between the rated full loads of the equipment downstream of a
connection point, and the rated load of the connection point. To illustrate:

1. The building at these co-ordinates is fitted with a 100A main supply fuse.
2. The distribution board has 2no. 6A breakers, 1no. 20A breaker and 5no. 32A breakers, a total,
potentially, of 192A.

Not all these rated loads are turned on at once. If they were, then the 100A supply fuse would
rupture, as it cannot pass 192A. So the diversity factor of the distribution board can be said to be
192A/100A, or 1.92, or 52%.

Many designers prefer to use unity as the diversity factor in calculations for planning
conservatism because of plant load growth uncertainties. Local experience can justify using a
diversity factor larger than unity, and smaller service entrance conductors and transformer
requirements chosen accordingly.

The diversity factor for all other installations will be different, and would be based upon a local
evaluation of the loads to be applied at different moments in time. Assuming it to be 1.0 may, on
some occasions, result in a supply feeder and equipment rating that is rather larger than the local
installation warrants.

In the case of the example given above, achieving a diversity of 1.0 or 100% would require well
over twice the cross-sectional area of copper cable to be installed in a deep trench underneath a
field, the rebuild of a feeder cabinet to larger dimensions, more substantial overhead supply
cables for a distance exceeding 2km northwards and a different tariff, where one pays rather
more for a kWh than at present.

Diversity factor is mostly used for distribution feeder size and transformer as well as to
determine the maximum peak load and diversity factor is always based on knowing the process.
You have to understand what will be on or off at a given time for different buildings and this will
size the feeder. Note for typical buildings diversity factor is always one. You have to estimate or

have a data records to create 24 hours load graph and you can determine the maximum demand
load for node then you can easily determine the feeder and transformer size.
Diversity Factor in distribution Network
Diversity Factors
Elements of System
Residential Commercial

General

Large

Power

Industrial

Between individual users

2.00

1.46

1.45

Between transformers

1.30

1.30

1.35

1.05

Between feeders

1.15

1.15

1.15

1.05

Between substations

1.10

1.10

1.10

1.10

From users to transformers

2.00

1.46

1.44

From users to feeder

2.60

1.90

1.95

1.15

From users to substation

3.00

2.18

2.24

1.32

From users to generating station

3.29

2.40

2.46

1.45

Diversity Factor for distribution switchboards


Diversity Factors
Elements of System
Residential Commercial

General

Large

Power

Industrial

Between individual users

2.00

1.46

1.45

Between transformers

1.30

1.30

1.35

1.05

Between feeders

1.15

1.15

1.15

1.05

Between substations

1.10

1.10

1.10

1.10

From users to transformers

2.00

1.46

1.44

From users to feeder

2.60

1.90

1.95

1.15

From users to substation

3.00

2.18

2.24

1.32

From users to generating station

3.29

2.40

2.46

1.45

Diversity Factor for distribution switchboards


Number of circuits

Diversity Factor (KS)

Assemblies entirely tested 2 and 3

0.9

4 and 5

0.8

6 to 9

0.7

10 and more

0.6

Diversity Factor for according to circuit function (IEC 60439)


Circuits Function

Diversity Factor (ks)

Lighting

0.9

Heating and air conditioning

0.8

Socket-outlets

0.7

Lifts and catering hoist


For the most powerful motor

For the second most powerful motor

0.75

For all motors

0.8

Load factor

Load Factor = Average load. /Maximum load during a given period.

It can be calculated for a single day, for a month or for a year.

Its value is always less than one. Because maximum demand is always more than avg. demand.

It is used for determining the overall cost per unit generated. Higher the load factor, lesser
will be the cost per unit.

Load Factor = Load that a piece of equipment actually draws / Load it could draw (full load).

Example: Motor of 20 hp drives a constant 15 hp load whenever it is on.

The motor load factor is then 15/20 = 75%.

Load factor is term that does not appear on your utility bill, but does affect electricity costs. Load
factor indicates how efficiently the customer is using peak demand.

Load Factor = ( energy (kWh per month) ) / ( peak demand (kW) x hours/month )

A high load factor means power usage is relatively constant. Low load factor shows that
occasionally a high demand is set. To service that peak, capacity is sitting idle for long periods,
thereby imposing higher costs on the system. Electrical rates are designed so that customers with
high load factor are charged less overall per kWh.

For Example

Customer A High Load Factor

82% load factor = (3000 kWh per month x 100%) / 5 kW x 730 hours/month.

Customer B Low Load Factor

41% load factor = (3000 kWh per month x 100%) / 10kW x 730 hours/month.

To encourage the efficient use of installed capacity, electricity rates are structured so the price
per kWh above a certain load factor is lower. The actual structure of the price blocks varies by
rate.

Utilization factor (Ku)

In normal operating conditions the power consumption of a load is sometimes less than that
indicated as its nominal power rating, a fairly common occurrence that justifies the application of
utilization factor (Ku) in the estimation of realistic values.

Utilization Factor = The time that a equipment is in use./ The total time that it could be in
use.

Example: The motor may only be used for eight hours a day, 50 weeks a year. The hours of
operation would then be 2000 hours, and the motor Utilization factor for a base of 8760 hours
per year would be 2000/8760 = 22.83%. With a base of 2000 hours per year, the motor
Utilization factor would be 100%. The bottom line is that the use factor is applied to get the
correct number of hours that the motor is in use.

This factor must be applied to each individual load, with particular attention to electric motors,
which are very rarely operated at full load. In an industrial installation this factor may be
estimated on an average at 0.75 for motors.

For incandescent-lighting loads, the factor always equals 1.

For socket-outlet circuits, the factors depend entirely on the type of appliances being supplied
from the sockets concerned.

Maximum demand

Maximum demand (often referred to as MD) is the largest current normally carried by circuits,
switches and protective devices. It does not include the levels of current flowing under overload
or short circuit conditions.

Assessment of maximum demand is sometimes straightforward. For example, the maximum


demand of a 240 V single-phase 8 kW shower heater can be calculated by dividing the power (8
kW) by the voltage (240 V) to give a current of 33.3 A. This calculation assumes a power factor of
unity, which is a reasonable assumption for such a purely resistive load.

There are times, however, when assessment of maximum demand is less obvious. For example, if
a ring circuit feeds fifteen 13 A sockets, the maximum demand clearly should not be 15 x 13 = 195
A, if only because the circuit protection will not be rated at more than 32 A. Some 13 A sockets
may feed table lamps with 60 W lamps fitted, whilst others may feed 3 kW washing machines;
others again may not be loaded at all.

Lighting circuits pose a special problem when determining MD. Each lamp-holder must be
assumed to carry the current required by the connected load, subject to a minimum loading of

100 W per lamp holder (a demand of 0.42 A per lamp holder at 240 V). Discharge lamps are
particularly difficult to assess, and current cannot be calculated simply by dividing lamp power
by supply voltage. The reasons for this are:
1. Control gear losses result in additional current,
2. the power factor is usually less than unity so current is greater, and
3. Chokes and other control gear usually distort the waveform of the current so that it contains
harmonics which are additional to the fundamental supply current.

So long as the power factor of a discharge lighting circuit is not less than 0.85, the current
demand for the circuit can be calculated from:

current (A) = (lamp power (W) x 1.8) / supply voltage (V)

For example, the steady state current demand of a 240 V circuit supplying ten 65 W fluorescent
lamps would be: I = 10X65X1.8A / 240 = 4.88A

Switches for circuits feeding discharge lamps must be rated at twice the current they are required
to carry, unless they have been specially constructed to withstand the severe arcing resulting
from the switching of such inductive and capacitive loads.

Coincidence factor

The coincidence factor =Max. demand of a system / sum of the individual maximum
demands

The coincidence factor is the reciprocal of the diversity factor


Demand Factor & Load Factor according to Type of Industries
Type of Industry

Demand

Load

Utilization

Factor

Factor Factor (DF x LF)

Arc Furnace

0.55

0.80

0.44

Induction Furnace

0.90

0.80

0.72

Steel Rolling mills

0.80

0.25

0.20

Mechanical/ Electrical
a) Single Shift

0.45

0.25

0.11

b) Double Shift

0.45

0.50

0.22

Cycle Industry

0.40

0.40

0.16

Wire products

0.35

0.40

0.14

Auto Parts

0.40

0.50

0.20

Forgings

0.50

0.35

0.17

Rice Shellers
a) Working Season

0.70

0.80

0.56

b) Non-Working Season

0.05

0.30

0.01

Cotton Ginning
a) Working Season

0.70

0.25

0.17

b) Non-Working Season

0.10

0.10

0.01

Spinning Mills

0.60

0.80

0.48

Textile Industry

0.50

0.80

0.40

Dyeing and Printing

0.40

0.50

0.20

Ghee Mills

0.50

0.50

0.25

Oil Mills

0.70

0.50

0.35

Plastic

0.60

0.25

0.11

Soap

0.50

0.25

0.12

Rubber (Foot Wear)

0.45

0.35

0.16

Distilleries

0.35

0.50

0.17

Chemical Industry

0.40

0.50

0.20

Gas Plant Industry

0.70

0.50

0.35

Sugar

0.30

0.45

0.13

Paper

0.50

0.80

0.40

Flour Mills(Single Shift)

0.80

0.25

0.20

Milk Plants

0.40

0.80

0.32

Printing Presses

0.35

0.30

0.10

Repair Workshops

0.40

0.25

0.10

Bottling Plants

0.40

0.35

0.14

Radio Stations

0.55

.0.45

0.25

Telephone exchange

0.50

0.90

0.45

Public Water Works

0.75

0.40

0.30

Medical Colleges

0.60

0.25

0.15

Hospitals

0.25

0.90

0.22

Nursing Homes

0.50

0.50

0.25

Colleges and Schools

0.50

0.20

0.10

Hotels and Restaurants

0.75

0.40

0.30

Demand Factor & Load Factor according to Type of Buildings:


Individual Facilities

Demand Factor Load Factor

Communications buildings

60-65

70-75

Telephone exchange building

55-70

20-25

Air passenger terminal building

65-80

28-32

Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory

70-80

22-28

Materials Laboratory

30-35

27-32

Electrical and electronics systems laboratory

20-30

3-7

Controlled humidity warehouse

60-65

33-38

Hazardous/flammable storehouse

75-80

20-25

Hospital

38-42

45-50

Laboratory

32-37

20-25

Medical Clinic

45-50

20-23

Single-family residential housing

60-70

10-15

Apartments

35-40

38-42

Fire station

25-35

13-17

Police station

48-53

20-25

Bakery

30-35

45-60

Laundry/dry cleaning plant

30-35

20-25

Schools

65-70

12-17

Churches

65-70

5-25

Post Office

75-80

20-25

Retail store

65-70

25-32

Bank

75-80

20-25

Supermarket

55-60

25-30

Restaurant

45-75

15-25

Auto repair shop

40-60

15-20

Hobby shop, art/crafts

30-40

25-30

Bowling alley

70-75

10-15

Gymnasium

70-75

20-45

Skating rink

70-75

10-15

Theatre

45-55

8-13

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.
 
  =

    
       

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:
 
  =

   
!"## $ #

    = !"## $ #  
 
Units generated/annum = Average load (in kW) Hours in a year
Units generated/annum = Maximum demand (in kW) L.F. 8760

Load Curve
A graphical plot showing the variation in demand for energy of the consumers on a source of
supply with respect to time is known as the load curve. If this curve is plotted over a time period of 24
hours, it is known as daily load curve. If it is plotted for a week, month, or a year, then its named as the
weekly, monthly or yearly load curve respectively. The load duration curve reflects the activity of a
population quite accurately with respect to electrical power consumption over a given period of time. To
understand the concept better it is important that we take the real life example of load distribution for
an industrial load and a residential load, and have a case study on them, to be able to appreciate its
utility from the perspective of an electrical engineer.
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 as it shows the variations of load with
respect to time during the day. The Figure shows the typical daily load curve of a power station. It is clear
that load on the power station is varying, being maximum at 6 P.M. in this case. It may be seen that load
curve indicates at a glance the general character of the load that is being imposed on the plant. Such a
clear representation cannot be obtained from tabulated figures.
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 power station for different hours of the day.

(ii).

The area under the daily load curve gives the number of units generated in the day.

(iii).

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

(iv).

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

(v).

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

(vi).

  % &'     


24   

The ratio of the area under the load curve to the total area of rectangle in which it is contained

gives the load factor.


 
  =

 
  =

 
  =

   
!"## $ #

    24
!"## $ # 24

Area %in kWh' under daily load curve


Total area of rectangle in which the load curve is contained

Case Study on Daily Industrial Load Curve


The figure given below shows the load duration curve of an industrial load over a period of 24
hours. A closer introspection into the curve shows that the load demand starts to rise only after 5 hours

in morning as some of the machinery in the plant starts running perhaps for warming prior to operation
of a few departments having to start early to synchronize the overall working of the plant in proper
manner. By 8 hours in morning, the entire industrial load comes into play and remains constant up to
shortly before noon, when it begins to fall off a bit because of lunch period. The morning shape of the
curve is again restored from around 14 hrs and remains like that till about 18 hrs. In evening, most of
the machineries start to shut down. Demand falls to minimum again by 21 to 22 hours in night and
remains the same till 5 hours in morning next day.

Case study on Daily Residential Load Curve


In case of a residential load, as we can see from the diagram below, the minimum load is reached
at about 2 to 3 hours at morning, when most people are asleep and during 12 noon, when most people
are out at work. Whereas, the peak of the residential load demand starts at around 17 hrs and lasts up to
21 to 22 hrs at night, after which again the load drops rapidly, as most people retire to bed. Since, this
residential load curve, is taken in a sub-continental continental country like India, we see that the load
demand in summer is a bit higher in summer compared to a similar pattern of lower values during the
winter season.

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. 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.

The above figure (i) show the daily load curve. The daily load duration curve can be readily obtained
from it. It is clear from daily load curve [See Fig. (i)], that load elements in order of descending
magnitude are : 20 MW for 8 hours; 15 MW for 4 hours and 5 MW for 12 hours. Plotting these loads in
order of descending magnitude, we get the daily load duration curve as shown in Fig. (ii).
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
summarized in one curve. The curve thus obtained is called the annual load duration curve.

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