Reactive Power Compensation using Shunt Compensation Technique in the Smart Distribution Grid

Abstract

Intermittent consumption pattern of the customers in the distribution grid is one among the major cause for power quality degradation. The interconnected loads of distribution grid are predominantly inductive in nature. Maintenance of power factor near unity is crucial and hence automatic power factor correction with stand-alone processor is proposed. Capacitor bank with selector featuring a step increase of 2µF is incorporated to mitigate the reactive power imbalance caused due to varying load. The advent of smart metering infrastructure in the smart distribution grid paved way to precisely control the reactive power compensation at various instances, even with the unpredicted time varying loads. Extensive analysis has been carried out in experimental setup by considering versatile loading conditions, with the help of RLC load. Combination of different types of loads yielded varying power factor and the required amount of reactive power compensation was calculated continuously. Capacitor banks with selector have been operated with the help of relays based on the triggering signals sent from processor. The required unity power factor is achieved in most of the cases where the required reactive power is around the existing reactive power value.