VARIABLE LOAD

Plate No. 1
I. OBJECTIVES
1. To be able to state the importance of load curve.
2. To be able to compare the ideal load curve from realized load curve.
3. To be able to state the effect of variable load on power plant design.
4. To be able to state the effect of variable load on power plant operation.
5. To be able to enumerate the method of meeting the load.
6. To be able to solve the given technical problems.

II. THEORY AND ANALYSIS

The Load Curve is a curve of power versus time which shows the value of a
specific load for each unit of the period covered. It is important in the analysis of the trend
of load consumption of the energy consumers. It gives ease in the identification of the peak
load and when it occurs at a certain time of the day. It also helps in identifying when
demands rise and fall all throughout the course of the day. The Actual Energy Produced
can also be calculated through the load curve by approximating the area under the curve
using various calculating methods.

The ideal load, from the standpoint of equipment needed and operating routine,
would be one of constant magnitude and steady duration. Thus, it shows a constant value
line in the ideal load curve. The cost to produce an elementary area of this load curve could
be from ½ to ¾ of that to produce the same unit under real conditions. On the other hand,
the realized load curve portrays the actual scenario of variable loads in real life
circumstances. It shows how load varies on different times of the day depending on the
needs of the consumers in specific situations. Environmental conditions, consumer
lifestyle, holiday seasons, and some energy conservation measures done by the consumer to
reduce their amount of energy consumption expenses are some of the factors that affect the
variation of the load requirements. Thus, the variation of load according to real life
situations cause the rise and fall of the load curve.
 The necessity of having to cope up with a variable load in large measure influences
the characteristics and method of use of power plant equipment. In a steam power plant,
raw materials for power production includes air, fuel, and water. To produce steam power
in a varying manner, it follows that the supply of these materials will be required to be
correspondingly varied. As the power required at the customer’s motor increases, it
imposes an increased torque at the motor pulley, thus, there needs to be an increase in the
flow of fuel, air, and water to the steam generator to sustain the operation requirements. In
the modern power plant, there is much equipment devoted entirely to adjusting the rates of
supply of air, fuel, and water to the boilers in accordance with the demands made upon
them for steam. Efficient combustion is readily obtained under steady steaming conditions.
With fluctuating steam demand, it becomes very difficult to secure good combustion and
steady steam pressure, because efficient combustion requires the coordination of so many
various services. A severe pressure fluctuation results in lowered efficiency of both boiler
and turbine. The coordination just mentioned is not as simple as the supplying of more air
and fuel when more steam is required, the reason being that there is a certain time lag
element present in combustion that is not present in electrical generators. Although this
picture of control for variable load is necessarily elementary, enough has been stated to
indicate the important effect of load variation on plant design. The range of load through
which generator units in a plant can operate will depend, in a large measure, upon the
number and the capacity of the units installed. If the number and size of units have been
selected to fit a known or correctly predicted load curve, it may be possible to operate them
at or near the point of maximum efficiency. But a close fit of the operating curve can
usually be secured only by subdividing the total plant capacity into several power units of
different sizes. However, it must be noted that the investment cost per kilowatt of capacity
increases as the size of the unit decreases.

In addition to the fact that the variable load condition imposes certain design
requirements, it is also given that when the power plant has been built and connected to a
distribution system, the variable load condition imposes operating problems. Starting from
the assignment of generating units to service, all the operation activities on down to the
final financial contact with the customer, which is the “rate” used to compute the bill,
variability of the load is influential in shaping operating procedure. The variable load
placed upon the electric generators of a power plant is mirrored in the steam demand on
the boilers and on various other components. Since the operating characteristics of such
equipment are not exactly linear with load, then the reflection is somewhat distorted.
 The specific methods of meeting the variable load problem are irrevocably
involved with the financial or economic aspect of energy production, for the peaks add bit
little to the gross income of the plant and may actually detract from the net. There are
already methods which have been either successfully tried or proposed, or are under
experimentation at present. The possible complete hydroelectric development sites of a
stream are of two types, namely, those suitable for run-of-the-river plants and those
offering natural impoundment basins for storage plants. In general, the run-of-the-river
plant is cheaper than the storage plant of equal capacity, but it suffers seasonal variation of
output more or less proportional to the variation of stream flow. Another method is the
theory of parallel operation of steam and hydro plants. The conditions under which the
hydro plants are erected are highly individual and the manner in which they are operated in
parallel with steam plants to meet the daily and seasonal load variations will be, in each
case, the logical outgrowth of those system conditions which have shaped themselves into
being with the growth of load. These facts present a combination of circumstances which
have developed different principles of paralleling the two types of plants in almost every
system. One method that is also given attention now is the operation of plants with thermal
efficiencies inferior to the more modern plants and the use of obsolete equipment. The
lower the capacity factor of a station, the less is the utilization of the investment. This
diminished utilization represents less loss when applied to a plant that has been in service
for some years, and consequently is of less capital value because of depreciation, than if it
affected a modern plant. The older and less efficient units in a plant keep investment loss
low due to the use factor being at minimum. If there is a sharp peak of short duration, it
matters little what the efficiency of the equipment carrying the peak is, as long as it can
eliminate an expenditure of capital for new equipment on which the earnings would be
quite inadequate. Obsolete equipment have sufficient capacity to carry short peaks and it is
excellent since its initial cost will already be largely written off in depreciation. The
method of purchasing energy from neighboring systems is also considered nowadays. One
of the advantages of electrical interconnection is the ability to exchange off-peak power.
Extending the idea to the interconnection of two systems, intersystem exchange would be
effective only of the peaks did not occur simultaneously. The installation of peak load
Diesel engines or gas turbines also finds its way to being one of the methods of meeting
the variable load problems. Internal Combustion Power Plants have been advocated as
peak load units on account of the possible rapid starts, meaning there is no long warm-up.
However, the size and cost of the Diesel engine are strong adverse factors and,
consequently, not many have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there are bright
prospects for the gas turbine plant in the peak load field since it has the ability to take a
thus, eliminating long warm-up fuel cost. It also moderate initial cost coupled with
compactness and minimum foundation requirements and it has high rotational speed which
results in low generator cost. The simple and compact gas turbine unit has quite a low
thermal efficiency which in turn results to a by-product of large quantities of hot exhaust
gases. This by-product can sometimes be put to use in raising the capacity of an adjacent
steam plant. Preheating the steam plant feedwater with heat transferred from the exhaust
gases accounted for additional power gain in capacity. However, many and varied
conditions exist throughout the industry, and many cases probably invite consideration of
the gas turbine. The use of storage batteries or electrical accumulators also adds to the list
of methods to meet the variable load problems. The principle use of storage batteries for
peak load is in connection with traction systems which, for speed control reasons, use
direct current. These traction peaks can be extremely sharp, and there may be many of
them during the day, but the kW hr they represent are not many. Storage battery reserve is
not often practical in an a-c system, for rotary conversion would be required both during
charging and discharging periods. Battery reserve incurs heavy initial cost and
maintenance per kW hr of storage. However, they are often used in the d-c field,
sometimes in large capacity. Next, steam accumulators are also used as one of the
methods. Under certain favorable conditions a heat energy “flywheel” may be interposed
between a steam generator and a variable use of steam. A severely fluctuating steam
demand renders it difficult to fire a steam boiler with uniformly good efficiency. Heat
accumulators have been devised to smooth out the fluctuations, the most used being the
Ruths system of live steam accumulation. Lastly, there is an occurring development of
high-head hydraulic accumulator sites. The Hydraulic Accumulator System pumps water
into a reservoir with off-peak power in order to later produce on-peak power. Quoted costs
from similar European installations seem to show that in favorable locations, the efficiency
of conversion and storage need not to be greater than 50% to justify the project. Its
assembly includes the centrifugal pump, hydraulic turbine, and motor-generator that are
mounted on the same shaft. Sometimes horizontal shaft units are connected by clutches so
that one or the other may be disconnected from the motor-generator when not in use.
Another variation to the idea is to have two separate units and uses hydraulic accumulators
to carry steam station peaks. One unit is a steam-turbine-driven centrifugal pump and the
other an ordinary hydraulic turbogenerator. Certain topographical features are essential to
the accumulator site. The hydraulic storage of power is necessarily a high-head
development, low-head equipment, and hydraulic losses being too expensive. Hence a
storage site should offer a head better than 23 m with sufficient reservoir storage capacity
to carry the peaks. The nature of the storage basin is also important. There should be no
off through the soil. An extensive shallow basin will cause the over-all efficiency to be
lower than for a smaller deeper basin of equivalent capacity because of both percolation
and surface evaporation. These losses are the same as energy evaporated, for energy had
been expended in placing the water in storage against the hydraulic head. Then, the
reservoir must be near enough to the station to minimize line cost and keep pipe friction
losses low. Pumped storage of energy can bring to a steam plant some of the advantages
previously cited for the steam accumulator. It will furnish a load for the boilers during
periods of minimum demand and promote a more uniform rate of combustion.

III. TECHNICAL PROBLEM

PROBLEM I

(Solve problem 7 p. 59. Power Plant Engineering by: F.Y. Morse-using

Simpson’s One-Third Rule)

A power plant load is represented by an average daily load curve, given by

the following coordinates:

Hour kW Hour kW
1:00 AM 285 1:00 PM 565
2:00 AM 265 2:00 PM 685
3:00 AM 255 3:00 PM 735
4:00 AM 245 4:00 PM 825
5:00 AM 245 5:00 PM 1065
6:00 AM 265 6:00 PM 995
7:00 AM 365 7:00 PM 965
8:00 AM 475 8:00 PM 935
9:00 AM 625 9:00 PM 915
10:00 AM 655 10:00 PM 785
11:00 AM 675 11:00 PM 665
12:00 NN 670 12:00 AM 445
*Added 65kW for each load from the original problem (Attendance No. 13, 13 x 5kW =
65kW) based on the attendance sheet and required increment.

This is carried by one 1400 kW steam turbogenerating unit which has a steam demand
represented by the equation,
This is carried by one 1400 kW steam turbogenerating unit which has a steam demand
represented by the equation,

m steam =907.2+ 4.99( P A . L )

where: m steam = is in kg steam per hour

P A . L= average load in kW

Find: a) The load factor

b) The capacity factor

c) The kg steam used per day

PROBLEM II

The daily load curve of a certain region is given by the following data.

AM 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30
kW 220 200 190 180 180 200 300 410 560 590 610 605 490
PM 1:00 1:30 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 5:30 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00
kW 500 590 620 670 760 1000 960 930 900 870 850 720 600 380

It is proposed to carry this load with a new Diesel engine power station. A certain line of engines is
offered in the following sizes, depending on the number of cylinders: 360kW, 480kW, 600kW,
720kW, 960kW. Plot the load curve and fit it with selections from the engine line mentioned so
that there will be a good balance between capacity factor and number of units installed.

a) Determine the capacity factor of the plant.

b) Tabulate an “operating schedule.”

c) Determine the use factor of each unit

IV. COMPUTATION/CALCULATION (with figure/drawing)
PROBLEM I
Solution:

Solving for Actual Energy Produced using Simpson’s 1/3 rule:

Y0 445 Y13 565

Y1 285 Y14 685
Y2 265 Y15 735
Y3 255 Y16 825
Y4 245 Y17 1065
Y5 245 Y18 995
Y6 265 Y19 965
Y7 365 Y20 935
Y8 475 Y21 915
Y9 625 Y22 785
Y10 655 Y23 665
Y11 675 Y24 445
Y12 670

LOAD CURVE
1200

1000

800
Load (kW)

600

400

200

0
12:00 AM 6:00 AM 12:00 PM 6:00 PM 12:00 AM
Time
 Δx
Area= ¿
3

1 hr
Area= [(445+ 445)+2(265+245+265+ 475+655+670+ 685+825+995+ 935+785)+ 4
3

Area=14643.33 kWhr

And,

Actual Energy Produced

Average Load=
No . of hrs∈a day

14643.33 kWhr
Average Load= =610.13875 kW
24 hrs

Peak Load = 1065 kW

Solving for Load Factor:

Average Load
Load Factor=
Peak Load

610.13875 kW
Load Factor=
1065 kW

Load Factor = 0.5729

Solving for Capacity Factor:

Actual Energy Produced

Capacity Factor=
( Plant Capacity)(No .of hrs ∈a day )

14643.33 kWhr
Capacity Factor=
(1400 kW )(24 hrs )

Capacity Factor = 0.4358

Solving for kg steam used per day:

ṁsteam =907.2+ 4.99 ( P A . L )

where: msteam = is in kg steam per hour

PA.L = is average load in kw

ṁ steam =907.2+ 4.99 ( 610.13875 kW )

ṁsteam =3951.792363 kg /hr

kg 24 hr
ṁ steam =3951.792363 (
hr 1 day )
kg
ṁ steam =94843.0167
day
PROBLEM II

Solution:

Solving for the actual energy produced via Simpson’s 1/3 rule:

Completing the table for ∆x= 0.5hr = 30mins

TIME kW TIME kW TIME kW TIME kW

12:00 AM 445 7:00 AM 365 2:00 PM 685 9:00 PM 915
12:30 AM 365 7:30 AM 420 2:30 PM 710 9:30 PM 850
1:00 AM 285 8:00 AM 475 3:00 PM 735 10:00 PM 785
1:30 AM 275 8:30 AM 550 3:30 PM 780 10:30 PM 725
2:00 AM 265 9:00 AM 625 4:00 PM 825 11:00 PM 665
2:30 AM 260 9:30 AM 640 4:30 PM 945 11:30 PM 555
3:00 AM 255 10:00 AM 655 5:00 PM 1065 12:00 AM 445
3:30 AM 250 10:30 AM 665 5:30 PM 1025
4:00 AM 245 11:00 AM 675 6:00 PM 995
4:30 AM 245 11:30 AM 672.5 6:30 PM 980
5:00 AM 245 12:00 PM 670 7:00 PM 965
5:30 AM 255 12:30 PM 555 7:30 PM 950
6:00 AM 265 1:00 PM 565 8:00 PM 935
6:30 AM 315 1:30 PM 655 8:30 PM 925

LOAD CURVE

1200

1000

800
Load (kW)

600

Load Curve
400

200

0
12:00:00 AM 6:00:00 AM 12:00:00 PM 6:00:00 PM 12:00:00 AM
Time
Y0 = 445 Y9 = 245 Y18 = 625 Y27 = 655 Y36 = 995 Y45 = 725
Y1 = 365 Y10 = 245 Y19 = 640 Y28 = 685 Y37 = 980 Y46 = 665
Y2 = 285 Y11 = 255 Y20 = 655 Y29 = 710 Y38 = 965 Y47 = 555
Y3 = 275 Y12 = 265 Y21 = 665 Y30 = 735 Y39 = 950 Y48 = 445
Y4 = 265 Y13 = 315 Y22 = 675 Y31 = 780 Y40 = 935
Y5 = 260 Y14 = 365 Y23 = 672.5 Y32 = 825 Y41 = 925
Y6 = 255 Y15 = 420 Y24 = 670 Y33 = 945 Y42 = 915
Y7 = 250 Y16 = 475 Y25 = 555 Y34 =1065 Y43 = 850
Y8 = 245 Y17 = 550 Y26 = 565 Y35 =1025 Y44 = 785

Δx
Area= ¿
3

0.5 hr
A= [ ( 445+ 445 ) +2 ( 285+ 265+255+245+245+265+365+ 475+625+ 655+ 675+670
3

A = 14580 kWhr (Actual Energy Used)

Solving for Capacity Factor

Selected Units:
Unit 1: 600 kW
Unit 2: 360 kW
Unit 3: 480 kW
Actual Energy Produced
Capacity Factor=
( Plant Capacity)(No .of hrs ∈a day )

14580 kWhr
Capacity Factor=
(600 kW +360 kW +480 kW )(24 hrs)

Capacity Factor = 0.421875

Fitting the 3 units (480kW, 360kW, and 600kW) on the load curve:

700

600

500

400
Load (kW)

Load Curve
300 Unit 3
Unit 2
200 Unit 1

100

0
12:00:00 AM 6:00:00 AM 12:00:00 PM 6:00:00 PM 12:00:00 AM
Time

Operating Schedule

12:00 AM Unit No. 1 is operating

8:50 AM Start Unit No. 2
12:18 PM Stop Unit No. 2
1:12 PM Start Unit No. 2
4:33 PM Start Unit No. 3
7:10 PM Stop Unit No. 3
11:20 PM Stop Unit No. 2
Actual data used in fitting the units on the load curve and load under each units:
Unit 1: 600 kW
Unit 2: 360 kW
Unit 3: 480 kW
Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3
Time Time
(kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW)
12:00 AM 445 0 0 1:00 PM 565 0 0
12:30 AM 365 0 0 1:12 PM 600 0 0
1:00 AM 285 0 0 1:30 PM 600 55 0
1:30 AM 275 0 0 2:00 PM 600 85 0
2:00 AM 265 0 0 2:30 PM 600 110 0
2:30 AM 260 0 0 3:00 PM 600 135 0
3:00 AM 255 0 0 3:30 PM 600 180 0
3:30 AM 250 0 0 4:00 PM 600 225 0
4:00 AM 245 0 0 4:30 PM 600 345 0
4:30 AM 245 0 0 4:33 PM 600 360 0
5:00 AM 245 0 0 5:00 PM 600 360 105
5:30 AM 255 0 0 5:30 PM 600 360 65
6:00 AM 265 0 0 6:00 PM 600 360 35
6:30 AM 315 0 0 6:30 PM 600 360 20
7:00 AM 365 0 0 7:00 PM 600 360 5
7:30 AM 420 0 0 7:10 PM 600 360 0
8:00 AM 475 0 0 7:30 PM 600 350 0
8:30 AM 550 0 0 8:00 PM 600 335 0
8:50 AM 600 0 0 8:30 PM 600 325 0
9:00 AM 600 125 0 9:00 PM 600 315 0
9:30 AM 600 140 0 9:30 PM 600 250 0
10:00 AM 600 155 0 10:00 PM 600 185 0
10:30 AM 600 165 0 10:30 PM 600 125 0
11:00 AM 600 175 0 11:00 PM 600 65 0
11:30 AM 600 172.5 0 11:20 PM 600 0 0
12:00 PM 600 170 0 11:30 PM 555 0 0
12:18 PM 600 0 0 12:00 AM 445 0 0
12:30 PM 555 0 0
Solving for the Use Factor of each unit

Total number of hours used per unit;

Unit 1: 24 hrs
Unit 2: 13 hrs and 36 mins (13.6 hr)
Unit 3: 2 hrs and 37 mins (2.62 hr)

Solving for Use Factor of Unit 1 (600 kW)

Actual Energy Produced under Unit 1

Use Factor=
(Unit 1Capacity)( No . of hrs∈actual use )

Solving for Actual Energy Produced under Unit 1 by Trapezoidal Rule:

445+ 445
Aunit 1=0.5 hr [ +365+ 285+ 275+265+260+255+250+ 245+245+245+255+265+ 315+365+42
2

Aunit 1 = 13327.5 kWhr

13327.5 kWhr
Use Factor of Unit 1= Use Factor of Unit 1 = 0.92552
(600 kW )(24 hr )

Solving for Use Factor of Unit 2 (360kW):

Solving for Actual Energy Produced under Unit 2 by Trapezoidal Rule:

A1 a= ( 1060 hr )[ 0+125
2 ]
=10.41667 kWhr

125+170
A2 a =( 0.5 hr ) [ 2 ]
+140+155+165+175+172.5 =477.5 kWhr

A3 a = ( 1860 hr)[ 170+0

2 ]
=25.5 kWhr

Aunit 2 a=10.4167+ 481.25+25.5=513.4167 kWhr

A1 b= ( 1860 hr )[ 0+55
2 ]
=8.25 kWhr

55+65
A2 b =( 0.5 hr ) [ 2
+85+110 +135+180+225+345+ 360+ 360+360+360+360+360+360+ 350+335+3

20 65+0
A3 b = ( 60
hr)[ 2 ]
=10.833 kWhr

Aunit 2 b=8.25+2592.5+10.83=2791.583 kWhr

Aunit 2 total =513.4167+2791.583=3304.9997 kWhr

3304.9997 kWhr
Use Factor of Unit 2= Use Factor of Unit 2 = 0.675
(360 kW )(13.6 hr )

Solving for Use Factor of Unit 3 (480 kW):

Solving for Actual Energy Produced under Unit 3 by Trapezoidal Rule:

A1= ( 2760 hr )[ 0+105

2 ]
=23.625 kWhr

105+5
A2= ( 0.5 hr ) [ 2 ]
+65+35+20 =87.5 kWhr

A3 = ( 1060 hr )[ 5+02 ]=0.4167 kWhr

Aunit 3 total =23.625+87.5+0.4167=111.5417 kWhr

111.5417 kWhr
Use Factor of Unit 3= Use Factor of Unit 3 = 0.0887
( 480 kW )(2.62 hr )
V. COMMENTS/REMARKS/RECOMMENDATIONS

According to the data given in problem I, the lowest load occurs at around 5
o’clock in the morning and the highest load occurs at around 5 o’clock in the afternoon.
Most of the high demands occur in the evening later than 5 PM. The peak load is quite
isolated in the sense that the average load value is just a little higher than half the peak load
proven by the load curve value. It means that there is a sudden spike in demand at that
certain time and the other demands are quite lower resulting to a lower average load. The
given plant is also not utilized anywhere near its full capacity when used all day long.
Having its capacity factor fall below 50% means that the plant is only used in a moderate
manner and not much on high demands. It is utilizing quite an amount of steam for
operation per day. However, the plant still has the capacity to produce more depending on
the given demands. The plant may also accept more load demands if additional earnings
are desired.

In problem II, the units with the lowest capacities are preferred to be used due to
the low demands in order to avoid replication of unit capacity. And despite the use of the
units with the lowest capacities, the plant still is not utilized as much as its maximum
capacity can. This is reflected in its capacity factor falling below 50%. Therefore, the plant
may still cater more loads if necessary and if higher earnings are desired. Most of the
demands are met by unit 1 since it has the highest capacity and unit 2 assists it in catering
the demands during the period of constant high demands. Also, unit 3 comes into help
during the peak loads only on a short period of time. Much of the work is assigned to unit
1, thus, it needs most of the attention for maintenance operations. The other units are
serving only as help during times of high demands during the day and the last unit may
even be replaced with a much smaller capacity in order to cut the cost. But if high peak
loads are expected to come anytime of the day, the big allowance in the unit capacity of the
plant is an effective action. The use factor of each unit reflects how much work is placed
upon each unit, thus, proves how unit 1 gets much of the work.