LOAD ESTIMATION

The Electrical load on a power station varies from time to time due to uncertain demands of the
consumers and is known as the 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 the 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 realised 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 (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 very low (10% to 12%).

(ii) Commercial load : This type of 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 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.

(v) Irrigation load : This type of load is the electric power needed for pumps driven by motors to supply
water to paddy 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 returning 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 :

 Need of additional equipment: The variable load on a power station necessitates to have 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.

 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.
 Load Curve

The curve showing the variation of load on the power station with respect to time is known as a load
curve. A load curve (or load graph) is a graphical record showing the power demands for every instant
during a certain time interval. The load variations during a given period of time are recorded against
different duration of time, such as, at 1 hour interval, in which case it would be an hourly load graph; at
24 hours interval, in which case it would be a daily load graph; a month in which case it would be a
monthly load graph; or a year, in which case it would be a yearly load graph.
The following points are to be considered:
(i) The area under the load curve represents the
energy generated in the period considered.
(ii) The area under the curve divided by the total
number of hours gives the average load on the
power station.
(iii) The peak load indicated by the load curve/graph
represents the maximum demand of the power
station.

 Significance of Load Curves:

• Load curves give full information about the incoming power and help to decide the installed
capacity of the power station and to decide the economical sizes of various generating units.
• These curves also help to estimate the generating cost and to decide the operating schedule of
the power station, i.e. the sequence in which different units should be run.
• The area under the daily load curve gives the total units of electric energy generated.
Units Generated / day = Area under the daily Load Curve in kW
• The peak point on the daily load curve gives the highest demand on the Power Station for that day.
• The average load per day on the Power Station can be calculated using the daily load curve.
Average load = Area under the daily Load Curve (kWh)/ 24 hrs.
• Load curve helps in deciding the size and number of Generating Units.
• Load curve helps in the preparing the operation schedule of the generating units.
 Load Duration Curve:
Load Duration Curve is the plot of Load versus time duration for which that load was persisting. This
curve is derived from the chronological (given time) load 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. Figure
shows a typical daily load curve for a power station.

The following points are to be considered:

(a) The area under the load duration curve and the corresponding chronological load curve is equal and
represents total energy delivered by the generating station.
(b) Load duration curve gives a clear analysis of generating power economically. Proper selection of
base load power plants and peak load power plants becomes easier.

 Important Terms And Factors:

(i) Connected load: It is the sum of continuous ratings of all the equipment 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 equipment in the consumer’s
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 is the maximum demand.
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.
 (iii) Demand factor: It is the ratio of maximum demand on the power station to its connected load i.e.,
Demand factor = Maximum demand ÷ Connected load
The value of demand factor is usually less than 1.
It is expected because maximum demand on the power station is generally 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.
(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.
(v) Load factor: The ratio of average load to the maximum demand during a given period is known as load
factor i.e.,
Load Factor = Avg. Load / maximum Load
= Avg. Load x24 / 24xmaximum Load
= Area under daily Load Curve/Area of Rectangle having Daily Load Curve

Load factor is always less than 1 because the average load is smaller than the maximum demand.
The load factor plays a 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.
(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.,
Obviously, diversity factor will always be greater than 1. The greater the diversity factor, the
lesser is the cost of generation of power.
(vii) Utilization Factor: The utilization factor is defined as the ratio of the maximum generator demand to
the generator capacity.
(viii) 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.
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.
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.