Effect of weather on rural electric cooperative demand

Abstract

Rural electric cooperative load consists of mainly residential consumers. The residential consumer load is very sensitive to weather and causes low load factor to the overall cooperative load, which drives the peak demand up. This cost is reflected on the purchased power demand and eventually high cost to its members. It is necessary to determine this weather component of the demand and control it. This paper discusses the load shape of the cooperative load and establishes relationship of the demand and weather to determine weather demand. For simplicity the most significant weather factor-temperature and hourly variation is considered in the relationship.<>