ABSTRACT
This is the first of two chapters on how weather influences demand and the analytical and planning issues associated with that relationship. This chapter looks at weather and how it influences electric load and summarizes methods that can be used to identify a relationship that describes weather’s impact on demand and energy usage. It might be characterized as “basic” material building toward the applications in Chapter 6. That chapter then looks at design weather criteria-how utility planners use their knowledge of weather in setting target loading levels for the system and in assuring the system can handle the loads created by extremely hot and cold weather.
