The application of capacitors on rural distribution systems

Abstract

The application of capacitors has become commonplace in the United States. There was a time when the application of capacitors on a wide scale basis was unusual because losses didn't cost that much and regulators handled the voltage drop quite well. Things have changed. Losses are a major concern. Voltage quality, due to more sensitive loads, is an issue. Finally, in today's world of cutting costs, capacitors are seen as the cheap way to reduce losses, improve voltage and get more watts out of what's already there. The purpose of this paper is to very briefly review some of the considerations rural distribution engineers might address in the application of capacitors.