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Plant load factor is energy sent out as a percentage of rated capacity times all hours in the period. Recomputing it over available hours only, excluding planned outages, separates commercial dispatch from maintenance scheduling — two very different management issues that a single PLF figure conflates.
Plant load factor
PLF % = energy sent out x 100 / (rated capacity x hours in period)
Available-hours basis
PLF available = generation x 100 / (capacity x (hours - planned outage))
They are essentially the same measure; PLF is the term used for thermal plant in South Asia while capacity factor is the international usage. PLF is often quoted on energy sent out rather than gross generation.
Because renewables with near-zero marginal cost displace thermal generation in the merit order, leaving thermal plant to cycle and provide peaking and balancing rather than baseload.