Availability factor
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (July 2021) |
The availability factor of a
power plant is the amount of time that it is able to produce electricity over a certain period, divided by the amount of the time in the period. Occasions where only partial capacity is available may or may not be deducted. Where they are deducted, the metric is titled equivalent availability factor (EAF). The availability factor should not be confused with the capacity factor
. The capacity factor for a given period can never exceed the availability factor for the same period. The difference arises when the plant is run at less than full capacity, in which case the capacity factor is less than the availability factor.
The availability of a power plant varies greatly depending on the type of
combined cycle
plants.
Originally the term availability factor was used only for power plants that depended on an active, controlled supply of fuel, typically fossil or later also
Photovoltaic power stations which have few or no moving parts and which can undergo planned inspections and maintenance during night have an availability factor approaching or equal to 100% when the sun is shining.[citation needed
]
See also
- Availability (Reliability Engineering)
- Generating Availability Data System (Electricity Industry)
- High availability
- List of energy storage projects
- Utilization factor
- Forced outage rate
References
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Std 762-2006 - IEEE Standard Definitions for Use in Reporting Electric Generating Unit Reliability, Availability, and Productivity
- ^ "AVAILABILITY FACTOR". huronwind.com. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
