EXPERIMENT No.

1
EXTRACTION OF IMPORTANT TECHNICAL DATA FROM SHORT
TERM LOAD CURVES AND LOAD DURATION CURVES AND USE
THE DATA FOR OPTIMAL POWER FLOW USING MATLAB
PURPOSE:
To learn
1. Review of basics of MATLAB
2. How to build a load curve, load duration curve and integrated load duration for
a given data.
3. Valuable information extracted from these load curves.

SOFTWARE USAGE: MATLAB

INTRODUCTION:
The demand for power has increased exponentially over the last century. This has increased
the emphasis on the performance and efficiency of power supplies used in everyday electronics
as well as sophisticated electronic and communication systems. A power supply is a
component, subsystem, or system that converts electrical power from one form to another. In
power system, it is important to know the daily-load curve that consists of demand pattern by
various classes of users.
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.
Load curve decides the installed capacity of a power station. Load Curve can
also check the peak load on a Power Station. It is helpful in choosing the most economical sizes
of the various generating units. The load curve estimates the generating cost. It decides the
operating schedules of the power station, i.e., the sequence in which the different generating
units should run.
If this curve is plotted over a time period of 24 hours, it is known as daily load
curve. If it’s plotted for a week, month, or a year, then it’s named as the weekly, monthly or
yearly load curve respectively.
Load Duration Curve: The load–duration curve is a plot of the load demands (in units of
power) arranged in a descending order of magnitude (on the y-axis) and the time in hours (on
the x-axis). A load duration curve enables us to determine the number of hours per year, when
the load is greater or lesser than any given amount. Similarly, it also shows the loads that are
carried for more or lesser than particular direction. The load duration curve can be extended
for any period of time i.e. it can be drawn for a month or for year too.
Information obtained from load curves:
Area under the load curve = Units generated,
Highest point of the curve = Maximum Demand
(Area under curve) / (by total hours) = Average load
It helps in selection of the rating and number of generating units required. To further assess
the usefulness of the generating plants from these curves, various factors are also computed.
Some of them are:

𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅
𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 = (𝟏. 𝟏)
𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅

𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 = (𝟏. 𝟐)
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅

𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅
𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 = (𝟏. 𝟑)
𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚

PROCEDURE:

Generally load curves are built by recording the values of load demands for every instant during
a certain time interval and plot a graph of load demands against a time for which it occurs. The
procedure for plotting Load Curves in MATLAB is as:
1. Open a new M-file in MATLAB.
2. A function is initialized that takes input variable data and in output we obtain plot of
load cycle for a given interval.

Function[ ]= loadcurve(data)
3. First of demand interval and load is defined by the variable data in a three column
matrix.
For Example:

4. The first two columns are the demand interval and third column is load value. The
demand interval may be minutes, hours, and months in ascending order and load values
 are generally in KW or MW. In above example first row of data variable shows that for
first two hours (00-02) load demand is 6 MW.

5. Now type the following commands at M-file window.

MATLAB Coding!!!

6. Save the commands above in your thumb drive directory, save as loadcurve.m
7. Now execute the above function and following load curve plot will be obtained.
However, the procedure for plotting a load duration curve is different from load curves
that is given below:
8. Determine the peak load and duration for which it occurs.
9. Then take the next lower load and find the total time during the year when this and the
previous greater load occurs.
10. Plot the load against the number of hours during the year, month or day for which it
occurs, or against the percentage of time during the year.
11. Further some useful information can also be extracted from these curves. i.e. Total
Energy from area under the curve, load factor etc.
E=pp’*(t2-t1)
Pavg=W/sum(t2-t1)
Peak=max(pp)
LF=(Pavg/Peak)*100;

OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:

Task 1: The load on power plant for a particular day is given below:

Time 12-4 a.m. 4 a.m.-8 8 a.m- 6 p.m-8 8 a.m.- 10 p.m-

a.m. 6.p.m p.m. 10 p.m. 12 p.m.

Load (KW) 15 35 70 80 90 15

Plot the load curve, load duration curve.

(i) Load Curve:
As the load demands are given for 24 hours, so daily load curve plotted for a given load by
adopting above mentioned procedure is shown below:
 Task:1
Code:
function load(data)
L=length(data);
tt=[data(:,1) data(:,2)];
t=sort(reshape(tt,1,2*L));
pp=data(:,3);
for n=1:L
p(2*n-1)=pp(n);
p(2*n)=pp(n);
end
plot(t,p)

data=[0 4 15
4 8 35
8 18 70
18 20 80
20 22 90
22 24 15];
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1); %% it will take the difference of column 2 and 1
Total_unit_counsumed_in_a_day_in_KWh=(C'*D) %% it will give area under the
curve
load(data) %% it calls the function
title("load Curve 18-EE-523") %% it gives title to the graph
xlabel("Time,Hr") %% it label the x-axis of the graph
ylabel("P,KW") %% it will label the y-axis of the graph
Load Curve:
(ii) Load Duration Curve:

1. First of all peak load demand and duration for which it is occurs are determined. In this
example peak demand is 90 MW and it occurs for 2 hours.
2. Starting from peak load demand following table is constructed to determine various
points on load duration curve.

Load (KW) Hours in a day % Time

90 2 8.33
80 2+2=4 16.66
70 4+10=14 58.33
35 14+4=18 75
15 18+6=24 100

3. Now plot the load demands against calculated time in table 2.

 Task:2
Code:
function load(data)
L=length(data);
tt=[data(:,1) data(:,2)];
t=sort(reshape(tt,1,2*L));
pp=data(:,3);
for n=1:L
p(2*n-1)=pp(n);
p(2*n)=pp(n);
end
plot(t,p)

data=[0 2 90
2 4 80
4 14 70
14 18 35
18 24 15];
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1); %% it will take the difference of column 2 and 1
Total_unit_counsumed_in_a_day_in_KWh=(C'*D)
load(data) %% it calls the function
title("load duration Curve 18-EE-523") %% it gives title to the graph
xlabel("Time,Hr") %% it label the x-axis of the graph
ylabel("P,KW") %% it will label the y-axis of the graph

Load Duration Curve:

 Exercise#01

Code:
function load(data)
L=length(data);
tt=[data(:,1) data(:,2)];
t=sort(reshape(tt,1,2*L));
pp=data(:,3);
for n=1:L
p(2*n-1)=pp(n);
p(2*n)=pp(n);
end
plot(t,p)

data=[0 6 20
6 10 25
10 12 30
12 16 25
16 20 35
20 24 20];
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1);
A=(C'*D); %it will give area under the curve
Peak_in_kW=max(C) % it will give Maximum Demand
Units_generated_per_day_kWh=A%units generated per day = Area under the
curve
Pavg_in_kW=Units_generated_per_day_kWh/24 % average load per day
Lf=Pavg_in_kW/Peak_in_kW %It give load factor
Lf_in_percentage=Lf*100 % this will give load factor in percentage
load(data) %% it calls the function
title("load Curve 18-EE-511") %% it gives title to the graph
xlabel("Time,Hour") %% it label the x-axis of the graph
ylabel("P,KW") %% it will label the y-axis of the graph
T=table(Units_generated_per_day_kWh,Peak_in_kW,Pavg_in_kW,Lf_in_percentage)
Load Curve:

Maximum Demand:
Code:
Peak_in_kW=max(C) %it will give Maximum Demand
Result:

Units generated Per day:

Code:
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1);
A=(C'*D); %it will give area under the curve
Units_generated_per_day_kWh=A %units generated per day = Area under
the curve
Result:
Average Load:
Code:
Pavg_in_kW=Units_generated_per_day_kWh/24 %it will give average load per
day
Result:

Load Factor:
Code:
Lf=Pavg_in_kW/Peak_in_kW %It give load factor
Lf_in_percentage=Lf*100 % this will give load factor in percentage
Result:

Table:

COMPARRISON TABLE:

PARAMETER MATLAB CALCULATED DIFFERENCE

VALUE VALUE
Peak_in_kW 35 35 Zero
Units_generated_per_day_kWh 600 600 Zero
Pavg_in_Kw 25 25 Zero
Lf 0.71429 0.71429 Zero
 Exercise#02

Table:
Time 0-5 5-18 18-19 19-21 21-24
Load 200 0 700 1000 500
(W)
Total bulbs=12
Load of one bulb=100W
Total load connected=1200W
Code:
function task2(data)
L=length(data);
tt=[data(:,1) data(:,2)];
t=sort(reshape(tt,1,2*L));
pp=data(:,3);
for n=1:L
p(2*n-1)=pp(n);
p(2*n)=pp(n);
end
plot(t,p)

data=[0 5 200
5 18 0
18 19 700
19 21 1000
21 24 500];
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1);
A=(C'*D); %it will give area under the curve
Peak_in_W=max(C) % it will give Maximum Demand
Demand_factor=Peak_in_W/1200 %DF=Max demand/total connected load which is
of 1200W
Energy_consumption_during_24_hr=A %Energy_consumption_during_24_hr= Area
under the curve
Pavg_in_W=Energy_consumption_during_24_hr/24 %it will give average load
per day
Lf=Pavg_in_W/Peak_in_W %It give load factor
Lf_in_percentage=Lf*100 % this will give load factor in percentage
task2(data)
title("load Curve 18-EE-523")
xlabel("Time,Hr")
ylabel("P,W")
T=table(Energy_consumption_during_24_hr,Peak_in_W,Demand_factor,Pavg_in_W,L
f_in_percentage)

Load Curve:

Energy Consumption During 24 Hr:

Code:
C=data(:,3);
D=data(:,2)-data(:,1);
A=(C'*D); %it will give area under the curve
Energy_consumption_during_24_hr=A %Energy_consumption_during_24_hr= Area
under the curve

Result:

Demand Factor:
Formula:

Code:
Demand_factor=Peak_in_W/1200 %DF=Max demand/total connected load which
is of 1200W
Result:
Average Load:
Code:
Pavg_in_W=Energy_consumption_during_24_hr/24 %it will give average load
per day
Result:

Maximum Demand:
Code:
Peak_in_kW=max(C) % it will give Maximum Demand

Result:

Load Factor:
Code:
Lf=Pavg_in_W/Peak_in_W %It give load factor
Lf_in_percentage=Lf*100 % this will give load factor in
percentage
Result:

Table:

COMPARRISON TABLE:

PARAMETER MATLAB CALCULATED DIFFERENCE

VALUE VALUE
Peak_in_kW 1000 1000 Zero
Energy_consumption_during_24_hr_kWh 5200 5200 Zero
Demand_factor 0.83333 0.833 Zero
Pavg in W 216.67 216.67 Zero
Lf 0.2167 0.2167 Zero
CONCLUSION:
After plotting the load curves and load durations curve I conclude that using these curves we
came to know that which generator should be ON to reach to the requirement and also cost of
that unit should be minimum. These curves also helps us that we should have to increase our
power generation to meet the requirement otherwise these is an energy crises.

TASK:
After going through the questions and answers related to the experiment, submit a
separate report which should include the analysis of the results of the experiment.

Teacher / Supervisor’s Signature: ____________________________________________