KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY

DHULIKHEL,KAVRE

USEFUL CONCEPTS ON OPERATING OF A

HYDROPOWER PLANT OF SYSTEM
 Load Duration Curve (LDC)

 The plot between the loads and percentage of time during

which these loads are higher is known as load duration curve
 There are some facts about the LDC that can be summarized
as:
 The LDC is an arrangement of all load levels in a descending
order of magnitude
 The area under the LDC represents the energy demanded by
the system
 Can be used in economic dispatching, system planning and
reliability evaluation
 Base load

 The load which is continuously exceeded during that time period

is called base load.
 For daily load curve, minimum load within a day is called base load
for that particular day.
 Base load requirement is the minimum level of demand on an
electrical supply system over 24 hours.
 Base load power sources are those plants which can generate
dependable power to consistently meet the demand.
 They are the foundation of a sound electrical system.
 Base load power plants will only be turned off during periodic
maintenance, upgrading, overhaul or service.
 Intermediate load

 Intermediate load lies within the range from base load to a

point between base load and peak.
 This point may be the midpoint a percent of the peak load or
a load over a specified period of time.
 Power plant for electricity supply which, due to its
operational and economic properties, is used to cover the
intermediate load.
 Intermediate load power plants are coal and gas-fired power
plants
 Average and Peak load

 Average load is defined as the average consumption over a

defined time period.
 Area under the load curve divided by times gives the average
load.
 The highest demand in a day is called the peak load.
 The load is defined as that part of the load carried at intensity
greater than 4/3 times the mean load intensity.
 Peak demand, peak load or on-peak are terms used in energy
demand management describing a period in which electrical
power is expected to be provided for a sustained period at a
significantly higher than average supply level.
 Peak demand fluctuations may occur on daily, monthly,
seasonal and yearly cycles.
 For an electric utility company, the actual point of peak
demand is a single half hour or hourly period which
represents the highest point of costumer consumption of
electricity.
 Power Duration Curve

 The actual estimation of power is given by P=9.81QH (kW)

 The available power from a run of river plant could be
represented by a power duration curve similar to the flow
duration curve.
 If the head is presumed to be constant, then in the equation,
P=9.81QH (kW),
 P=Constant*Q i.e. the power is function of discharge only so
the power duration curve would exactly corresponding to the
flow duration curve.
 Power duration curve = constant times flow duration curve
i.e. P20 = K*Q20, P30 = K*Q30 and so on. But in real case
Hnet = Hgross-Hloss
 Power Factor

 Power factor is defined as the ratio of actual power in

kilowatts to the apparent power in kilo volt amperes.
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠 (𝑘𝑊)
 Power Factor =
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡−𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠(𝐾𝑉𝐴)
 Load factor

 Load factor is the ratio of mean load to peak determined in the

load curve.
 Load Factor = (𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 )/(peak load)
 If the area under the load curve is plotted, it represents the
energy consumed in kilowatt hours. So, it can also be defined as
𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
 Load factor =
𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑∗𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙
 If a load factor is low a large portion of generating capacity
remains idle for most of the time and the cost of generation
becomes high.
General load curve
 Plant factor (Capacity factor)

The capacity factor, also known as a plant factor is the ratio of

average output of the plant for a given period of the time to the
plant capacity.
 To calculate the capacity factor, total energy the plant produced
during a period of time and divide by the energy the plant would
have produced at full capacity.
 Capacity factor vary greatly depending on the type of fuel that is
used and the design of the plant.
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡
 Capacity or plant factor =
𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
 For example, 12 MW plant, Jhimruk, run different month in
different installed capacity. The average is 3.5 MW then, plant
factor = 3.5MW / 12MW = 0.291667.
 Utilization Curve

 The utilization curve that describes the extent to which an

enterprise or a nation actually uses its installed productive
capacity.
 It is the relationship between output that is actually produced
with the installed equipment and the potential output which
could be produced with it, if capacity was fully used.
 The area under the utilization curve gives the power utilized
during that interval of time period.
 The utilization factor is the ratio of peak load developed during
certain period of time to the installed capacity of the plant.
 Utilization Factor (Plant Use Factor)

 It is the ratio of peak load developed during certain period of

time to the installed capacity of the plant (i.e. ratio of power
utilization to maximum power available)
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑
 Utilization Factor =
𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
 With head remaining constant it can be expressed as
 Utilization Factor =
𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟
 The value of utilization factor varies from 0.4 to 0.9 for a
hydropower plant depending upon the plant capacity, load
factor and storage.
 Demand Curve

 In economics, the demand curve is the graph depicting the

relationship between the price of a certain commodity and the
amount of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at
that given price.
 But demand curve of hydroelectricity is quite difference as the
demand of electricity is more during evening and night time as
more people are likely to be using the electrical appliance at
this time.
 So demand curve during this time raise maximum and this is
also peak load time.
 In absence of sufficient supply of electricity during high
demand period, we are facing loadshedding.
 Demand Factor

 Demand factor is the ratio of maximum demand to the

connected load.
𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑
 Demand Factor =
𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑

 The ratio of (a) the maximum real power consumed by a

system to (b) the maximum real power that would be
consumed if the entire load connected to the system were to
be activated at the same time.
 Diversity Factor

𝑆𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑

 Diversity Factor =
𝑆𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑
 Availability Factor
 The availability factor of a power plant is the amount of time that
it is able to produce electricity over a certain period, divided by
the amount of time in the period.
 Occasions where only partial capacity is available may or may not
be deducted.
 The availability factor should not be confused with the power
factor.
 Most thermal power stations, such as coal, geothermal and
nuclear power plants, have availability factors between 70% and
90%.
 Gas turbines have relatively high availability factors, ranging from
80% to 90%. Gas turbines are commonly used for peaking power
plants, co-generation plants and the first stage of combined
cycle plants.
THANK YOU!!