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Power factor
correction studies are performed to improve
the existing power factor in your facility. Power factor is simply the ratio of real to
apparent power consumed by your operations.
By maintaining a high power factor, your
plant may avoid costly utility bills
resulting from an enforced “low”
power-factor clause or high kVA demand.
Other benefits of an improved power factor
include:
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Release of power system capacity (kVA)
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Improved bus voltage profiles
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Reduced power system losses
The power factor study begins with a utility
rate structure review together with a
historical sample (six to 24 months) of
electric bills. This information is used to
evaluate present use patterns and to
determine the potential economic benefits of
improving power factor.
Utility rate structures usually provide
significant economic incentives to reduce
total kVA demand. Typical demand charges can
vary from minimal to $20 per demand kVA, so
for reducing a demand by just 100 kVA with a
demand charge of, let’s say, $10 per kVA
could save $1,000 per month. It’s easy to
see that larger demand reductions and higher
demand charges could potentially provide
large savings.
Features &
Benefits
The biggest benefit of power flow or
load-flow studies is for planning the future
expansion of power systems as well as
determining the best operation of existing
systems.
A power factor study can enable you to:
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Facilitate conceptual design
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Identify corrective actions when components
are overloaded or voltage performance is
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inadequate
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Determine the power factor corrections to
increase system capacity and lower utility
bills
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Determine the operational impact of
potential contingencies
Scope
Using advance modeling software, the
objective of a power factor study is to
obtain complete voltage angle and magnitude
information for each bus in a power system
for specified load and generator real power
and voltage conditions. Once this
information is known, real and reactive
power flow on each branch as well as
generator reactive power output can be
analytically determined. Due to the
nonlinear nature of this problem, numerical
methods are employed to obtain a solution
that is within an acceptable tolerance.
The information received from conducting a
load flow study will help ensure that the
power system is adequately designed to
satisfy your performance criteria, now and
in the future.
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