Question

Show that the capacity factor is equal to the percentage of time that a system is operating at its rated capacity.

Answer 1

The net capacity factor of a power plant is the ratio of its actual output over a period of time, to its potential output if it were possible for it to operate at full nameplate capacity indefinitely. To calculate the capacity factor, take the total amount of energy the plant produced during a period of time and divide by the amount of energy the plant would have produced at full capacity.

CALCULATION

Baseload power plant
A base load power plant with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) might produce 648,000 megawatt-hours (MW·h)
in a 30-day month. The number of megawatt-hours that would have been produced had the plant been operating at
full capacity can be determined by multiplying the plant's maximum capacity by the number of hours in the time
period. 1,000 MW × 30 days × 24 hours/day is 720,000 MW·h.

CAPACITY FACTOR IS =648000/720000=0.9=90%

THIS ALL SHOWS THE CAPACITY FACTOR EQUAL TO THE PERCENTAGE OF TIME THAT A SYSTEM OPERATING ITS RATED CAPACITY.