Designing an Electricity System

1. Define the notion of a load duration curve. Explain how the shape of the load duration curve for a particular system affects the selection of technology mix.

2. Explain the key features of each of the following. Indicate which types of generation technologies are typically used in each case.
a. baseload generation
b. intermediate load following power plants
c. peaking power plants.

3. For each type of generation technology, what are typical levelized unit energy costs (LUECs) at the present? You will need to search the web to obtain recent figures. (For example, see the
U.S. Energy Information Administration website.)

4. Consider the load duration curve for San Diego Gas and Electric displayed below.

a. Approximately what proportion of the year does demand exceed 3000 megawatts?

b. How many megawatts of baseload is in this system, if base-load runs at least 80% of the time?

c. How many megawatts of intermediate capacity is required if this type of generation runs at least 40% and no more than 80% of the time?

d. How many megawatts of peaking capacity is required?

5. Based on the results in question 4, design an electricity system by selecting appropriate magnitudes of baseload, intermediate and peaking generation. You must select specific technologies in each case. What is the average cost of electricity in your system?

6. Ontario electricity demand data are available on the IESO Website. Download the *.csv file entitled Hourly Ontario Market Demand at http://www.ieso.ca/Pages/Power-Data/Data- Directory.aspx. Once you have done so, extract demand data for each of the years 2007 to 2014. Using these data, plot the sequence of Load Duration Curves on a single graph. Has the curve shifted over time? Are there years when it is unusually low or unusually high? Why do you think this has been the case?

Attachment:- HourlyDemands 2002-2015.rar