Design Article
Comment
YCZhang
It should be clarified that PFC technology is still mainly applied in industrial ...
ogdenj
I find this article very useful instead. It nicely shows that even for 15KW ...
How to maximize the benefit of PFC technology for utility customers
Yucheng Zhang, Roger A. Dougal, Electrical Engineering University of South Carolina; Sean Burke, Glacial Energy Holdings, Inc.
6/29/2012 12:05 PM EDT
Global interest in Power Factor Correction (PFC) is increasing for several reasons. Electric utilities are beginning to build reactive power consumption into rate policies, not only just for large industrial customers, but also increasingly for smaller commercial customers.
Also, intensified interest in energy efficiency and reduction of electricity expenses has taken hold in more modestly-sized companies. At the same time, there is a poor general understanding of how to most-effectively counter the consumption of reactive power, and the companies most recently hit by these rate policies, which are ill-equipped to understand exactly how they are being charged (there are at least three ways, some of which are not direct) and how to mitigate their consumption.
In this article, we explain the basics of reactive power consumption, why it is desirable to reduce it, how customers may be charged for it, and the possibility of installing reactive power compensation equipment to reduce those charges. In addition, we briefly explain why reactive power compensation cannot practically reduce the consumption of real power, and thus why it cannot appreciably reduce the portion of a customer bill that is based on energy consumption.
For full paper please click here.
Also, intensified interest in energy efficiency and reduction of electricity expenses has taken hold in more modestly-sized companies. At the same time, there is a poor general understanding of how to most-effectively counter the consumption of reactive power, and the companies most recently hit by these rate policies, which are ill-equipped to understand exactly how they are being charged (there are at least three ways, some of which are not direct) and how to mitigate their consumption.
In this article, we explain the basics of reactive power consumption, why it is desirable to reduce it, how customers may be charged for it, and the possibility of installing reactive power compensation equipment to reduce those charges. In addition, we briefly explain why reactive power compensation cannot practically reduce the consumption of real power, and thus why it cannot appreciably reduce the portion of a customer bill that is based on energy consumption.
For full paper please click here.
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
prabhakar_deosthali
6/30/2012 2:44 AM EDT
Using PFC for reducing reactive power consumption is not something new. Even in the developing nation like India, I have seen such PFC measures are being taken even some 40 years back . Most of the heavy industries have metering of reactive power usage and billing based on the reactive power.
Sign in to Reply
Sanjib.Acharya
6/30/2012 10:15 AM EDT
Yeah...I could not find anything new in this paper. I have been seeing the practice of using the fixed or switched capacitance banks to compensate the inductive KVarh in medium to large scale industries in India since long time. Though, I feel that the laws could be stricter enforce this for small businesses and housing also.
Sign in to Reply
ogdenj
7/2/2012 7:24 AM EDT
I find this article very useful instead. It nicely shows that even for 15KW reactive load which is typical to small business sites - it is feasible to introduce PFC.
Sign in to Reply
YCZhang
8/14/2012 2:42 PM EDT
It should be clarified that PFC technology is still mainly applied in industrial customer sites although it has come out for several decades. The trend is more and more commercial customers would be charged for reactive power consumption and they were suggested or required to install PFC devices.
The motivation of this article is to let both the customers and power supplier know how to install an appropriate PFC device for the customer site depending on the operation mode and characteristics of their loads.
Sign in to Reply