Cold Load Pickup

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a quantitative method for electric power utilities to predict the magnitude and duration of the peak demand following a power outage in cold weather. The study is limited strictly to electrically heated homes. A model has been developed based on experimental data that predicts the power demand of any number of homes following a power outage. The authors believe that this information should influence both the design of the distribution system and the method of power restoration.