Load duration curve

The annual load duration curve is a commonly used in the energy diagram illustrating the power requirements of a utility object, based on their usage time. From the annual load duration curve thus be seen how many hours in a given power is in demand. Has practical significance this in capacity planning and in efficiency rating: occurring only a few hours in peak demand are usually covered unlike an almost constant duration of existing requirements.

Alternatively, the annual duration curve may be used to show the utilization of a power or heat source.

In the most common form of an annual duration curve diagram is the number of hours - maximum 8760 years hours - shown on the abscissa and power on the ordinate. In this representation, a form of annual load duration curve horizontally lying would be the best case, because it means at all times equal to high demand. The steeper the line deviates from the horizontal, the more often remains a down -sized to the maximum demand system underutilized.

• Diagram
• Energy
• Technical Drawing