Load Factor Energy

The capacity factor is defined for any electricity producing installation such as a fuel consuming power plant or one using renewable energy such as wind or the sun the average capacity factor can also be defined.

Load factor energy.

The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of an actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the maximum possible electrical energy output over that period. A high load factor indicates that load is using the electric system more efficiently whereas consumers or generators that underutilize the electric distribution will have a low load factor. The load factor percentage is derived by dividing the total kilowatt hours kwh consumed in a designated period by the product of the maximum demand in kilowatts kw and the number of hours in the period. Load factor in essence means efficiency.

For example if you use 60 8 kwh of electricity in a 24 hour period your average electricity use is 2 5 kw per hour 60 8 24. The load factor plays an important role in the cost of generation per unit kwh. Generally it is calculated based on a daily weekly monthly or annual basis. It is the ratio of actual kilowatt hours used in a given period divided by the total possible kilowatt hours that could have been used in the same period at the peak kw level established by the customer during the billing period.

Load factor is the ratio of average electricity use vs. Maximum electrical demand for a given time period. Load factor means how efficiently we use energy. In the example below the monthly kwh consumption is 36 000 and the peak demand is 100 kw.

It is the measure of the utilisation of electrical energy during a given period to the maximum energy which would have been utilised in that period. There were 30 days in the billing period. The load factor is calculated by dividing the total consumption of electrical energy kwh for a given specific time of period to the product of maximum demand kw and the number of hours in that period. Here the load factor plays a significant role in the generation of each unit kwh kilo watt hours.