2/19/22, 8:44 AM 1.1.

Variable load and Load Curve: ME 522-ME41S3 - Power Plant Design with Renewable Energy

1.1. Variable load and Load Curve

Let's watch the video below regarding the Load Curve.

Load Curves and Load Duration Curves [Year - 4]

  
What is variable load?

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2/19/22, 8:44 AM 1.1. Variable load and Load Curve: ME 522-ME41S3 - Power Plant Design with Renewable Energy

A variable load is a load that is applied over an area; that is, a surface. A variable load can
be applied in any direction specified by a vector or can be applied normal to the surface. A
function can be defined to control the magnitude of the load at different locations on the
surface.
What is a load curve?
It is the operating data of demanded load plotted against time sequence.
In a power system, a load curve or load profile is a chart illustrating the variation in
demand/electrical load over a specific time. Generation companies use this information to plan
how much power they will need to generate at any given time.
Refers to the graph used to represent the relationship between the demanded load and time
sequence.
The Monthly Load Curve is the average of the daily load curves over a one-month period that
is used in establishing the rates.
The Annual Load Curve is the average of the daily load curves over a period of one year that
is used in determining the annual load factor.
The Load Duration Curve is obtained from the same data as the daily load curves for one year
or a period of 8,760 hours.
Importance of Load Curve:
The Daily Load Curve gives the information of load on the power station during different running
hours of the day.
The number of unit's generation per day is found from the area under the Daily Load Curve.
Average load is found from the Load Curve.
Average load = Area (kWh) under daily load curve/24 hours  
The maximum demand of the station on that day is found from the highest point of the Daily Load
Curve.
The size and the number of generating units can be determined from the load curve
This Load Curve helps to determine the operation schedule of the station. In that case, when all
the units or the less units need to running is found.

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2/19/22, 8:44 AM 1.1. Variable load and Load Curve: ME 522-ME41S3 - Power Plant Design with Renewable Energy

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