Voltage regulation in the douglas area using shunt capacitor banks and controllable shunt reactors

Abstract

Voltage regulation is one of the critical quality of supply aspects in any power system. Due to this requirement, voltages must almost always be kept within the utilities defined lower and higher limits. Loads that vary substantially between peak and off-peak times can results in voltages exceeding the upper limits when the load is low and exceeding the lower limits when the load is high. Due to these two extremes, the shunt capacitor banks may have to be installed in the case of low voltages, as well as shunt reactors in the case of high voltages. Traditionally, the two different shunt devices should be switchable to avoid worsening either extreme condition. This is however a difficult challenge as the switching activities of capacitor banks and reactors, may result in too many operations of switchgear, failure to switch when required by other parts of the network other than the busbar connected at, hunting activities between switching devices and transformer tap changers which may result in false alarms, tap changer lockouts, and trouble shooting of control equipment. This paper suggests the use of fixed shunt capacitor banks with one optimally placed controllable shunt reactor to regulate voltages in the concerned area of supply.