SKEE2413

Basic Power and

Electric Machines
Topic 5:
Power System Loads
ADAPTED FROM TEACHING MODULE SEE 3423: BASIC POWER
ENGINEERING BY PM FARIDAH MOHD TAHA, PM DR. AZHAR
KHAIRUDDIN

OUTLINES
Introduction
Types Of Loads
Terms And Definitions
Load Profile Or Load Curve
Load Duration Curve
Load Factor
Diversity Factor
Load Sharing Between Base Load And Peak Load
Tarif
Power Factor

OBJECTIVES
Student should be able to:
1. Explain the types of electrical loads.
2. Define and determine various terms and factors
in power plant engineering.
3. Explain the nature of loads and how they are
met.
4. Explain, determine and analyzed tarif and
energy consumption and cost of consumers.

INTRODUCTION
In our daily life we use many form of energy such
as mechanical, heat and light.
Electricity is special as it can easily be transform
to these forms of energy.
This chapter discusses characteristics and ways of
electricity being used and how utility meet these
demands
economically,
efectively
and
satisfactorily.

TYPES OF LOADS
Residential load:
This type of load includes domestic lights,
power needed for domestic appliances such as
radios, televisions, water heaters, refrigerators,
rice cookers, fans, small motors etc.
Commercial load:
It includes lighting and air-conditioning for
shopping complexes, offices, hospitals and
schools.

TYPES OF LOADS
Industrial load:
It consists of various demands of industries. The
main loads in the sector are three phase induction
motors.
Public lighting and Municipal loads:
Mostly consist of street and city/town lighting,
power required for water supply and drainage
purposes.
Agricultural load:
Motors for irrigation and lighting.
Mining load:
Motors for pumping etc.

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Connected load:
The connected load on any system, or part of a
system, is the combined continuous rating of all the
receiving apparatus on consumers premises, which
is connected to the system, or part of the system,
under consideration.

TERMS AND DEFINITION

Demand:
The demand of an installation or system is the load
that drawn from the source of supply at the
receiving terminals averaged over a suitable and
specified interval of time.
Demand is expressed in kilowatts (kW), kilovoltsamperes
(kVA), amperes (A), or other suitable units.

TERMS AND DEFINITION

Maximum or peak demand or load:
The maximum demand of an installation or
system is the greatest of all demands that have
occurred during a given period.
It is determined by measurement, according to
specifications, over a prescribed interval of time.

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Base Load:
It is the unvarying load which occurs almost the
whole day on the power station.
It is the lowest load to be supplied at any time.
Intermediate load:
Loads between the base and peak loads that
have to be fed by the system.

LOAD PROFILE OR
LOAD CURVE.

A load curve is a graphic record showing the power demands

for every instant during a certain time interval.
Such a record may cover
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

one hour, in which case it would be an hourly load profile;

24 hours, in which case it would be a daily load profile;
a month in which case it would be a monthly load profile;
a year (8760 hours), in which case it would be a yearly
load profile.

A load profile will vary according to customer type (typical examples

include residential, commercial and industrial), temperature and
holiday seasons.

LOAD PROFILE OR
LOAD CURVE.
The following points are worth
noting:
1. The area under the load curve represents the
energy generated in the period considered.
2. The area under the curve divided by the total
number of hours gives the average load on the
power system.
3. The peak load indicated by the load curve
represents the maximum demand of the power
system.
4. The base load is the lowest demand registered.

LOAD PROFILE OR LOAD CURV

Villa load profile in Al Ain (Source: AADC).

Load profiles could be an hourly, daily, monthly, or annually, depending
on the nature of analysis carried out and the level of precision required.
This load assessment reveals the power consuming behavior of the
people occupying the building.

Brazilian residential load profiles.

Source: Eletrobrs (2005)

Measured hourly electrical load profiles for Building A.

(Commercial Load)

LOAD PROFILE OR LOAD CURV

Significance of load curve or load profile:
1. Give information about the incoming load and help to
decide the installed capacity of the power station and to
decide the economical sizes of various generating units.
2. 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.

LOAD DURATION CURVE.

Represents rearrangements of all the load
elements of chronological load curve in order
of descending magnitude.

Fig shows a typical

daily load curve for a
power station.
It may be observed
that the maximum load
on power station is 35
kW from 8 a.m. to 2
p.m.

LOAD DURATION CURVE.

The load curve that are
plotted in descending
order is the same figure
to form the load
duration curve

LOAD DURATION CURVE.

Points to be noted:
1. The area under the load duration curve represents the
total energy delivered by the generating station.
2. Load duration curve gives a clear analysis of
generating power economically.
3. Proper selection of base power plants and peak load
power plants become easier.

LOAD FACTOR
Definition:
The load factor is the ratio of the average power to
the maximum demand.
The load factor should be high; if it is unity, all the
plant is being used over all of the period.
It varies with the type of load, being poor for
lighting and high for industrial load (e.g. 100%
percent for pumping stations).

LOAD FACTOR

LOAD FACTOR

LOAD FACTOR

DIVERSITY FACTOR
Defined as the sum of individual maximum demands
of the consumers, divided by the maximum load on
the system.
This factor measures the diversification of the load
and is concerned with the installation of sufficient
generating and transmission plant.
If all the demand occurred simultaneously, diversity
factor would be unity, many more generators would
have to be installed.
However, the factor is usually higher especially for
domestic loads.

DIVERSITY FACTOR

Higher
diversity
factor could be
obtained
if
consumers
could
be persuaded to
take load as shown

DIVERSITY FACTOR

DIVERSITY FACTOR

LOAD SHARING BETWEEN

BASE LOAD AND PEAK LOAD
In examining the load curve, it is noted that the load
on the power station or power system is seldom
constant.
The load may be considered into three parts:
base load
all the
peak load
over and

: unvarying load which occurs almost

time on the power station.
: various peak demands of the load
above the base load.

LOAD SHARING BETWEEN

BASE LOAD AND PEAK LOAD
Base Power plants
Deliver full power at all times. Nuclear and coal-fired
stations are particularly well adapted to furnish base
demand.
Thermal power station using gas or coal take from 4
to 8 hours to start up, while nuclear stations may take
several days.
The economic characteristics of base load plants
should be :
i. supply power at high capital costs
ii. low costs of operation.

LOAD SHARING BETWEEN

BASE LOAD AND PEAK LOAD

Intermediate power plants

The stations can respond relatively quickly to
changes in demand, usually by adding or removing
one or more generating units.
Hydropower stations are well suited for this
purpose.

LOAD SHARING BETWEEN

BASE LOAD AND PEAK LOAD
Peak generating stations
Deliver power for brief intervals during the day.
Such stations must be put into service very
quickly.
They are equipped with prime movers such as
diesel engines, gas turbines, compressed air
motors, or pumped storage turbines that can be
started up in a few minutes.
The peak load plants should be inexpensive in
starting and shutting down operations.
The economic characteristics should be they
supply power at low capital costs, although at

EXAMPLE 1

a)
b)
c)
d)

Plot the load profile.

Plot load duration curve.
Choose suitable generating units to supply the load
Determine the maximum demand, energy generated per day,
average load and load factor

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 1

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 1

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 1

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 1
Maximum demandfrom the load curve the maximum demand on the power
station is 150 MW and occur during the period 14-18 hours.
Energy generated/ day = 45x6 + 136x6 +90x2
+150x4 + 75x6
= 270 + 810 +180 + 600
+ 450
= 2310 MW

TARIFFS
Power utility charges consumers for the use
of their electricity.
The rate at which electrical energy is
supplied to a consumer is known as tarif.
Each company has its own set of tarifs. The
following items are chargeable:
(a) Usage charge: amount of electricity
consumed in kWh,
(b) Capacity charge: maximum demand in kW,
(c) Reactive power charge: penalty for poor
power factor.

TARIFFS
Charges are usually made on the monthly usage.
Some supply authorities encourage consumers to
use high voltages by reducing tarifs charges for the
kWh consumption while others do not.
Another incentive in the form of
during of-peak hours (usually
dawn) is given to consumers to
operate during these hours
electricity consumption is low.

lower kWh charges

from midnight to
encourage them to
when the overall

TARIFFS
The TNB new tarif implanted as from 1st June
2011 provides 16 group of consumers.
Tarif A is for residential, tarifs B, C1 and C2 are
for commercial, and tarifs D, E1, E2, E3 are for
industrial sector.
Special tarifs for mining, public lighting and
agriculture are also available.

TNB TARIFF

EXAMPLE 2
In June 06, Madam Kamala consumed 300 kWh of
electricity. Determine her electricity bill for the
month.

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 2

EXAMPLE 3

SOLUTION EXAMPLE 3

POWER FACTOR
Power Factor is an index used to compute the efficiency
level of electricity usage. The index is measured from 0 to
1. A higher index shows efficient usage of electricity and
vice versa. Low power factor shortens the lifespan of
electrical appliances and causes power system losses to
TNB.
To understand power factor, we will start with the definition
of some basic terms:KW: Working Power (also called Actual Power, Active Power or
Real Power). It is the power that powers equipment and
performs useful work.
KVAR: Reactive Power. It is the power which magnetic
equipment such as transformers, motors and relays need
to produce the magnetizing flux.
KVA: Apparent Power. It is the vectorial summation of KVAR

POWER FACTOR
Power Factor is the ratio of Working
Power to Apparent Power.
Power Factor = KW / KVA
For efficient usage of electricity, power
factor must approach 1.0. Power factor
that is less than 0.85 shows inefficient use
of electricity.
Calculation for Power Factor =
KWh_
(KWh2 + KVARh2)

Causes of Low Power

Factor
Low power factor is caused by inductive loads,
which are sources of reactive power.

Examples of inductive loads are: Transformers

Induction motors
High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting
Inductive loads constitute a major portion of
power consumed by commercial and industrial
sectors.

How to Improve Your

Power Factor
Customers are advised to follow these steps: Install capacitors (KVAR Generators)
Capacitor
Corrector
Synchronous generators
Synchronous motors
Minimize operations of idling or lightly loaded
motors.
Avoid operating equipment above its rated
voltage.
Replace standard motors as they burn out with
energy efficient motors.

Benefits of Improving
Power Factor
Benefit 1: Reducing KW billing demand
Low Power Factor requires high reactive power
(KVAR) and apparent power (KVA), which is the
power that TNB supplies. Therefore, a facilitys
low power factor forces TNB to increase its
generation and transmission capacity in order to
handle this extra demand.
By increasing power factor, customers use less
KVAR. This results in less KW, which equates to
RM savings for TNB.

Benefits of Improving
Power Factor
Benefit 2: Eliminating power factor
surcharge
Utility companies all around the world charge
customers an additional surcharge when their
power factor is less than 0.95. In fact, some
utilities are not obliged to deliver electricity to
their customers at any time the customers
power factor falls below 0.85.
Thus, customer can avoid this additional
surcharge by increasing power factor. In
Malaysia, TNB is allowed through the Malaysian
Grid Code and the Malaysian Electricity
Distribution Code, to impose a surcharge to the
customer if the power factor is <0.85 for

Benefits of Improving
Power Factor
Benefit 3: Increased system capacity and
reduced system losses in your electrical
system
Low power factor causes power system losses in
the customers electrical system. By improving
power factor, these losses can be reduced. With
the current rise in the cost of energy, increased
facility efficiency is important. Moreover, with
lower system losses, customers are able to add
additional load in their electrical system.

Benefits of Improving
Power Factor
Benefit 4: Increased voltage level in your
electrical system, resulting in more
efficient motors
As mentioned before, low power factor causes
power system losses in customers electrical
system. As power losses increase, customer may
experience a voltage drop. Excessive voltage
drops can cause overheating and premature
failure of motors and other inductive equipment.
Therefore, by raising the power factor, customers
can minimize these voltage drops along feeder
cables and avoid related problems. Motors will
run more efficiently, with a slight increase in
capacity and starting torque.

Power Factor Surcharge

Power factor surcharge is imposed when
your power factor is less than 0.90
(electricity supply 132kV and above) or
less than 0.85 (electricity supply below
132 kV).

How it is Calculated
Power factor surcharge for customers with
electricity supply below 132 kV is
calculated as follows: 1.5% surcharge of the current bill for
every 0.01 less than 0.85 power factor.
3% surcharge of the current bill for
every 0.01 less than 0.75 power factor.

Example 4:Current bill: RM2,000

Power Factor

= 0.80

Surcharge

= [(0.85 0.80) / 0.01] x 1.5% x

RM2,000
= RM150

Example 5:Current bill: RM2,000

Power Factor

= 0.75

Surcharge

= [(0.85 0.75) / 0.01] x 1.5% x

RM2,000
= RM300

Example 6:Current bill: RM2,000

Power Factor

= 0.60

Surcharge

= [((0.85 0.75) / 0.01) x 1.5% x

RM2,000] + [((0.75 0.60) / 0.01) x 3%
x RM2,000]
= RM1200