THE VARIABLE LOAD PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION
✓The function of a power station is to deliver power to a large number of
consumers. However, the power demands of different consumers vary in
accordance with their activities. The result of this variation in demand is
that load on a power station is never constant, rather it varies from time to
time. Most of the complexities of modern power plant operation arise from
the inherent variability of the load demanded by the users.
✓Unfortunately, electrical power cannot be stored and, therefore, the power
station must produce power as and when demanded to meet the
requirements of the consumers.
INTRODUCTION CONT…

✓On one hand, the power engineer would like that the alternators in the
power station should run at their rated capacity for maximum
efficiencyand on the other hand, the demands of the consumers have
wide variations. This makes the design of a power station highly
complex.
 VARIABLE LOAD ON POWER STATION

✓The load on a power station varies from time to time due to uncertain

demands of the consumers and is known as variable load on the station.

✓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 :
EFFECTS OF VARIABLE LOAD CONT…

i. 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.
EFFECTS OF VARIABLE LOAD CONT…

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.

ii. 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.
EFFECTS OF VARIABLE LOAD CONT…

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.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND POWER GENERATION COMPARED

Industrial production is directly related to the power generation. Since in

Tanzania, the major problem is of electricity. It is not possible to give 24 hr
electricity to the industries.

And each industrial production is based on power generation, each machine is

runs by electricity, so if there is a problem of electricity in any industry, then it
is directly suffer the total production.

So for run a plant for 24 hr, there is necessary to a power generation unit. And
the power generation unit is of any type (i.e., diesel, steam, gas turbine, etc.)
 LOAD CURVES

The curve showing the variation of load on the power station with
respect to (w.r.t) time is known as a load curve.

The load on a power station is never constant; it varies from time to

time. These load variations during the whole day (i.e., 24 hours) are
recorded half-hourly or hourly and are plotted against time on the graph.

The curve thus obtained is known as daily load curve as it shows the
variations of load w.r.t. time during the day.
LOAD CURVES CONT….

. Fig. 3.2. shows a typical daily load curve of a power station. It is clear
that load on the power station is varying, being maximum at 6 P.M. in
this case.
LOAD CURVES CONT….
LOAD CURVES CONT….
LOAD CURVES CONT….

(vi)The load curve helps in selecting the size and number of generating
units.
(vii) The load curve helps in preparing the operation schedule of the
station.
LOAD CURVES CONT….

✓The monthly load curve can be obtained from the daily load curves of
that month. For this purpose, average values of power over a month at
different times of the day are calculated and then plotted on the graph.
The monthly load curve is generally used to fix the rates of energy.

✓The yearly load curve is obtained by considering the monthly load

curves of that particular year. The yearly load curve is generally used
to determine the annual load factor.
IDEAL AND REALIZED LOAD CURVES
IDEAL AND REALIZED LOAD CURVES CONT….

From the standpoint of equipment needed and operating routine, the

ideal load on a power plant would be one of constant magnitude and
steady duration. Such an ideal load is shown in Fig.2-1a . The cost to
produce an elementary area of this load curve(ie, one kilowatt hour)
could be from ½ to ¾ of that to produce the same unit under the more
frequently realized condition illustrated in Fig. 2-1b.
IDEAL AND REALIZED LOAD CURVES CONT….

This is because of the lower first cost of the equipment due to simplified
control and the elimination of various auxiliaries and regulating devices.

Also, the ideal load curve will result in the -improved operating conditions
with the various plant machines (for example turbine and generators etc.)
operating at their best efficiency.

The reason behind the shape of the actual realized load curve is that the
various users of electric power (industrial, domestic etc.) impose highly
variable demands upon the capacity of the plant.
TERMS AND FACTORS
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
ii. Maxmum 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 (say a day) is the maximum demand. Thus
referring back to the load curve of Fig. 3.2, the maximum demand on
the power station during the day is 6 MW and it occurs at 6 P.M.
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.
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
TERMS AND FACTORS CONT….
Example 1
Example 2
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN

✓The characteristics and method of use of power plant equipment is largely

influenced by the extent of variable load on the plant. Supposing the load on the
plant increases. This will reduce the rotational speed of the turbo-generator. The
governor will come into action operating a steam valve and admitting more steam
and increasing the turbine speed to its normal value. This increased amount of
steam will have to be supplied by the seam generation.

The governor response from load to turbine is quite prompt, but after this point, the
governing response will be quite slower. The reason is explained as given below:
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN CONT…

✓In most automatic combustion control systems, steam pressure variation is the
primary signal used. The steam generator must operate with unbalance between
heat transfer and steam demand long enough to suffer a slight but definite decrease
in steam pressure. The automatic combustion controller must then increase fuel,
air and water flow in the proper amount. This will affect the operation of
practically every component of auxiliary equipment in the plant. Thus, there is a
certain time lag element present in combustion control. Due to this, the
combustion control components should be of most efficient design so that they are
quick to cope with the variable load demand.
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN CONT…

✓Variable load results in fluctuating steam demand. Due to this it

become, very difficult to secure good combustion since efficient
combustion requires the co-ordination of so many various services.
Efficient combustion is readily attained under steady steaming
conditions. In diesel and hydro power plants, the total governing
response is prompt since control is needed only for the prime mover.
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN CONT…

✓The variable load requirements also modify the operating

characteristics built into equipment. Due to non-steady load on the
plant, the equipment cannot operate at the designed load points. Hence
for the equipment, a flat-topped load efficiency curve is more desirable
than a peaked one.
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN CONT…

✓Regarding the plant units, if their number and sizes have been selected to fit a
known or a correctly predicted load curve, then, it may be possible to operate them
at or near the point of maximum efficiency. However, to follow the variable load
curve very closely, the total plant capacity has usually to be sub-divided into
several power units of different sizes. Sometimes, the total plant capacity would
more nearly coincide with the variable load curve, if more units of smaller unit
size are employed than a few units of bigger unit size. Also, it will be possible to
load the smaller units somewhere near their most efficient operating points.
However, it must be kept in mind that as the unit size decreases, the initial cost per
kW of capacity increases.
EFFECT OF VARIBLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT DESIGN CONT…

✓Again, duplicate units may not fit the load curve as closely as units of
unequal capacities. However, if identical units are installed, there is a
saving in the first cost because of the duplication of sizes, dimensions
of pipes, foundations, wires insulations etc. and also because spare
parts required are less.
EFFECT OF VARIABLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT OPERATION

✓In addition to the effect of variable load on power plant design, the variable load
conditions impose operation problems also, when the power plant is
commissioned. Even though the availability for service of the modern central
power plants is very high, usually more than 95%, the public utility plants
commonly remain on the “readiness-to-service” bases. Due to this, they must
keep certain of their reserve capacity in “readiness-to-service”. This capacity is
called “spinning reserve” and represents the equipment standby at normal
operating conditions of pressure, speed etc. Normally, the spinning reserve should
be at least equal to the least unit actively carrying load. This will increase the cost
of electric generation per unit (kWh).
EFFECT OF VARIABLE LOAD ON POWER PLANT OPERATION CONT..

✓In a steam power plant, the variable load on electric generation ultimately gets
reflected on the variable steam demand on the steam generator and on various
other equipments. The operation characteristics of such equipments are not linear
with load, so, their operation becomes quite complicated. As the load on electrical
supply systems grow, a number of power plants are interconnected to meet the
load. The load is divided among various power plants to achieve the utmost
economy in the whole system. When the system consists of one base load plant
and one or more peak load plants, the load in excess of base load plant capacity is
dispatched to the best peak system, all of which are nearly equally efficient, the
best load distribution needs thorough study and full knowledge of the system.
METHODS OF OVERCOMING THE VARIABLE LOAD
PROBLEM/METHODS OF MEETING THE LOAD
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 but little to the gross income of the plant
and may actually detract from the net.
The methods which have been either successfully tried or proposed, or
are under experimentation at present, are listed here without any special
significance being attached to their order.
METHODS OF MEETING THE LOAD CONT….
Methods are as follows:
i. Complete hydro development of a stream.
ii. Steam and hydro plants in parallel operation.
iii. Operation of plants with thermal efficiencies inferior to the more
modern plants and the use of absolute equipment.
iv. Purchase of energy from neighboring systems
v. Installation of peak load Diesel engines or gas turbine
vi. Use of storage batteries ( electrical accumulators)
vii. Use of steam accumulators
viii.Development of high head hydraulic accumulator sites
END OF PRESENTATION