Technical Note

Benefits of Power Factor Correction

Most people associate electricity and energy with kilowatts (kW). In fact, kW only makes up a part of the overall energy usage in a home, commercial building or an industrial manufacturing plant. In the world of AC power, there are actually three types of power: Apparent Power (measured in Volt-Amps) Real Power (measured in Watts) Reactive Power (measured in VARs) of kW hours required by a facility. Additional benefits of reducing line losses will be discussed later in this document. the effects can be harmful. In facilities with motors, low voltage reduces motor efficiency and can cause overheating. Interference may be introduced by low voltage in lighting and other electrical instruments (i.e. Computers). Welding plants in particular, may suffer from voltage drops. The quality of a weld is directly proportional to the voltage. These voltage drops can cause bad welds which translate into scrap or possible product recalls if allowed to persist. Real-time capacitor systems (<1 cycle) have the capability of providing fast compensation to a dynamic load that cannot typically be seen by other conventional capacitor banks. It can help to raise and stabilize voltage across a facility by providing reactive energy, thus improving overall production.

Benefit: Capacity

Electrical

System

The relationship between Apparent Power and the other two is influenced by what is called Power Factor (PF). The PF can be thought of as a measure of electrical efficiency in a power system. Numerous benefits can be derived by providing power factor correction to a facility.

Capacitors in a facility produce reactive energy that motors require to produce magnetizing current for induction motors and transformers. This reduces the overall current needed from the power supply. This translates into reduced loads on both transformers and feeder circuits.
Capacitors Provide Reactive Power

Benefit: Reduced Utility Bills

Utilities have several different rate structures that may be used for billing. kVA Billing straight charges for all apparent power consumed kVAr Billing additional charges for reactive power Power Factor Penalty charges based on the customers actual power factor Adjusted kW Demand the real power demand is adjusted by a formula and is based on the customers actual power factor

Benefit: Reduced Line Losses

Reduced loads on transformers can have a variety of positive impacts that include but are not limited to: less maintenance, reduced breaker trips, and higher full-load capacity. Differences exist between DC resistances of various conducting elements and actual apparent AC resistances of those same elements. There are many different phenomena present in electrical systems which, when combined, can create substantial energy losses. Reducing the current used in a facility as well as properly minimizing harmonics can have a significant effect on reducing line losses. Capacitors can help a system by

Benefit: Levels

Improved

Voltage

Low voltage may be caused by a lack of reactive energy. Additionally, voltage drops are often caused by dynamic load changes. In both cases,

In all cases, the power factor of a customer will become a direct or indirect factor in the utility bill. Power bills may be reduced by introducing capacitors to the facility, which can reduce the need for kVAr required from the utility. Capacitors have the added effect of reducing line losses which can reduce the amount Elspec Power Quality Solutions

In This Document
Read about: The difference between apparent, real and reactive power The main areas to benefit from PFC Examples of PFC savings

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Elspec Technical Note

supplying kVAr as needed, therefore reducing line currents. However, extreme care should be taken when installing capacitors as it is quite possible to increase harmonics by installing capacitors. Installed capacitor systems ought to have tuned filters to reduce the effects of harmonics and resonance. must be raised to obtain the desired capacity.
In our example, we want 20% additional capacity. Follow the horizontal line for 20% to the right until it meets the curved line that extends from the original power factor of .80. At the point of intersection, follow straight down to the corrected power factor which shows approximately 0.95.

EXAMPLES OF BENEFITS
EXAMPLE #1: Reducing utility bills based on kVA Suppose a plant has a 2000 kVA demand, which requires 1600 kW and is billed at a rate of $5/kVA demand. If the power factor could be increased, the monthly bill would in turn, decrease. Step 1) Determine power current PF

Step 3) Calculate the kVAr necessary to raise the PF accordingly. Old kVAr = SQRT{(kVA2) (kW2)} 1200kVAr = SQRT{(20002) (16002)} Since

EXAMPLE #3: Calculating voltage rise With the introduction of capacitors, a voltage rise can be expected. The percentage of voltage increase can is defined below. % voltage rise = capacitor kVAr x % transformer impedance kVA rating of transformer For example, lets suppose the transformer has an impedance of 5.73% and is rated at 3,000kVA. By installing a 1,200kVAr capacitor system, the voltage would rise by ~2.29%. EXAMPLE #4: Calculating reduced power losses By installing a PFC system, power losses can be reduced and calculated using the following formula: % Reduction power losses = 100 100 x (Original PF / New PF)2 Suppose a facility has a PF of 0.80 before installing a power factor correction system which improves the power facto to 0.95. The power losses would be reduced by more than 29%.

kW 1600 = = 0.8 kVA 2000

Step 2) Calculate kVAr needed to raise PF (lets try 0.93)

kW = COS ( ) kVA And , kVAr TAN ( ) = kW

Then kVAr = kW x TAN(), and = COS-1 (PF), Therefore: Req. kVAr = Old kVAr kW x TAN(COS-1(New PF)) 674 kVAr = 1200 1600 x TAN(COS-1(0.95)) This is the reactive energy necessary to allow for the increase in system capacity without installing a new transformer.

kW 1600 = = 1720kVA newPF 0.93

Step 3) Calculate monthly savings
Old kVA New kVA = kVA Saved OR 2000kVA 1720kVA = 280kVA 280kVA x $5/kVA demand = $1400/ mo. saved

EXAMPLE #2: Increasing system capacity A facility wants to increase its overall load by 20%. If a capacitor system is installed, how big must it be to avoid putting in a new transformer? Step 1) Calculate the current kW usage and power factor. (Use the calculations from Example 1) Step 2) Determine how high the PF

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