1985 Alaska Field Survey of Part-Loading of Diesel-Electric Generators

Abstract

By conducting a survey by mail, by phone and in person, we obtained information on 356 diesel electric generator sets in Alaska in 1985. User groups surveyed included the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC), public school districts, those certified by the Alaska Public Utilities Commission, the Tanana Chiefs, and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Our survey focused on part-load operation. We found that a lack of detailed site-specific data precludes making a general quantitative statement about part loading. The most detailed data, by far, are those collected by AVEC. Those data plus some other information indicate that many gensets (some for good reasons) are underloaded, especially in the summer. The simple algebraic average July and January loadings for the 44 AVEC systems surveyed are close to 35% and 50%, respectively. Minimum loads as low as 15% occurred in the summer. AVEC recognizes the potential for improvement and has increased its system-wide efficiency by 25% from 1980 to 1985.