3/8/2019 Effects of Variable Load on Power Station

HOME MACHINES POWER SYSTEM ELECTRONICS ABOUT CONTACT US

E ects of 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 the variable load on the station.

A power station is designed to meet the load requirements

of the consumers. An ideal load on the station, from
standpoint of equipment needed and operating routine,
would be one of constant magnitude and steady duration.
However, such a steady load on the station is
never realized in actual practice. The consumers require
their small or large block of power in accordance with the
demands of their activities.

https://studyelectrical.com/2015/06/effects-of-variable-load-power-station.html 1/6
3/8/2019 Effects of Variable Load on Power Station

Thus the load demand of one consumer at any time may be different from that of the other consumer. The
HOME
result MACHINES
is that load on the power POWER SYSTEM
station varies ELECTRONICS
from time to time. ABOUT CONTACT US

Effects of variable load on Power Station

Table of Contents 
1. Effects of variable load on Power Station
1.1. The need for additional equipment
1.2. Increase in production cost
2.Effect of Variable Load on Power Plant Design
3. Effect of Variable Load on Power Plant Operation
4.Related Articles

The variable load may cause many problems in the operation of a power station. Some of the important
effects of variable load on a power station are :
The need for additional equipment
The variable load on a power station necessitates having 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.
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.
Increase in production cost

https://studyelectrical.com/2015/06/effects-of-variable-load-power-station.html 2/6
3/8/2019 Effects of Variable Load on Power Station

The variable load on the plant increases the cost of the production of electrical energy. An alternator
HOME at maximum
operates MACHINES
efficiencyPOWER
near itsSYSTEM ELECTRONICS
rated capacity. ABOUT CONTACT US

If a single alternator is used, it will have poor efficiency during periods of light loads on the plant.
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 the floor area required. This leads to an increase in the production cost of energy.
Effect
 of Variable 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 steam
generation. The governor response from load to the turbine is quite prompt, but after this point, the

governing response will be quite slower.
Variable load results in fluctuating steam demand. Due to this, it becomes, very difficult to secure
good combustion since efficient combustion requires the coordination of so many various services.
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 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.
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 equipment. The operation characteristics of
such equipment 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 baseload plant and one or more peak load plants, the load in excess of
baseload plant capacity is dispatched to the best peak system, all of which are nearly equally efficient, the

https://studyelectrical.com/2015/06/effects-of-variable-load-power-station.html 3/6