<< back

Electrical, Thermal, Solar, and Wind Loads

In the low fidelity model, the electrical and thermal load profiles for army bases were estimated using available energy data from the University Park campus at Penn State. The University Park campus has an approximate population of 42,000 students. For the low fidelity model, the energy usage is calculated by analyzing 1 day from each month (based on the below table of averages), and multiplying the results by 30 (days in a month) to calculate the yearly cost of the microgrid. Thermal loads are estimated by subtracting the electrical load profile from the total energy profile.

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Electrical Load (kWh)
Electrical Load/Hour (kWh)
23,000,000
31944
23,000,000
31944
24,000,000
33333
25,000,000
34722
25,000,000
34722
27,000,000
37500
30,000,000
41667
30,000,000
41667
28,000,000
38888
27,000,000
37500
23,000,000
31944
22,000,000
30555
Thermal Load (kWh)
Thermal Load/Hour (kWh)
56,137,000
77968
53,206,000
73897
49,275,000
68437
39,482,000
54836
33,620,000
46694
22,827,000
31704
21,292,500
29573
13,965,000
19396
23,292,500
32351
31,620,000
43917
38,551,000
53543
48,344,000
67144



The low fidelity models assume that the daily load profile has a distribution similar to the below graph.


Time (hr) Load Equation
1-7 avg - avg*0.1944
7-11 (avg - avg*0.1944) + (time - 7)*2*avg*0.1944/4
11-17 avg + avg*0.1944
17-24 (avg + avg*0.1944) - (time - 17)*2*avg*0.1944/7


The below graph displays the estimated load profiles.

Below is a graph of Fort Bragg solar load profiles downloaded from System Advisor Model (SAM). The first 10 days in year are shown. Hourly Solar Values

Below is a graph of Fort Bragg wind load profiles downloaded from System Advisor Model (SAM). The first 10 days in year are shown. Hourly Wind Values