What is demand factor in electrical

There are some factors in electrical power system. It includes load factor, demand factor, diversity factor, plant capacity factor, plant use factor ect. I’m today would like to discuss about demand factor. What is demand factor in electrical power system?

Demand Factor in electrical

The demand factor is the ratio of maximum demand on a power station to the connected load. The mathematical expression of demand factor is,

Demand Factor = Maximum Demand / Connected Load

The above equation is multiplied by 100 to calculate the Demand Factor in terms of percentage.

Maximum demand is the highest demand for loads during a period. The maximum demand needs to determine the installed capacity of a power plant. If the maximum demand is less then the installed capacity of a power plant will be less. On the other hand, if the maximum demand is high, the installed capacity of the power plant will be high.

Connected load is the sum of the ratings of all equipment connected to the power station. The connected load must be greater than the maximum demand. Because, all connected loads are not used at a time. This is why the demand factor is always less than one.

Here, it must be noted that, the maximum demand is the maximum load. So we can also expressed the Demand Factor as follow,

Demand Factor = Maximum Load / Connected Load

The above equation is also multiplied by 100 to calculate the Demand Factor in terms percentage.

For example, if a residence has 10 kW connected load and maximum demand 6 kW, then the Demand Factor is,

Demand Factor = (Maximum Load / Connected Load) * 100

= (6 kW / 10 kW) * 100

= 0.6*100

Demand Factor =60%

Therefore, the demand factor in above case is 60%. I hope you understand it. Thanks for your patience reading.