6. Applications &
Load calculation
Our past experience has shown that the demand for electricity in the villages reaches the maximum
level around 1800 hr to 2200 hr. The appliances used by community members of a village to meet their
basic energy needs, their power rating and the number of items they may typically use are given in the
following table. From this, the maximum demand at a time for power can be calculated.
Appliance
TV (Colour)
CFL bulb
CFL bulb
Radio
Total power
Power (W)
70
10
7
10
No. of items
1
4
5
1
Total power (W)
70
40
35
10
155
In the above example, the maximum demand from a household is worked out to be 155 W and as
designers, each house can thus be designed for 200 W leaving a safety margin. Therefore, if a village of
50 families with similar demands for power should be designed for a micro-hydro scheme - 50 x 200
W = 10,000 W = 10 kW to be the minimum required power generation.
During the day time, the electrical power for the above appliances is not used often. Therefore, other
activities such as ironing cloths, battery charging and any other economic activity can be undertaken
using the generated electricity.
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