Economic Improvement of Power Factor Correction: A Case Study

摘要

Power factor (PF) is simply an expression of energy efficiency, which is always expressed in terms of percentage. Technically, PF is a ratio of real power in Kilowatts to the apparent power, which is always expressed in kilovolts amperes. In AC power analysis, power is always expressed in three ways, the real power ( P ), reactive power ( Q ), and the apparent power ( S ). The real power is the work useful power, while the reactive power is the wasted power in the 3-phase AC system, and the apparent power is the vectorial sum of the two powers. The increase of reactive power will reduce the presence of real power, thus making the power to be more expensive. In this paper, we will analyze the importance of improving the power factor by applying a bank of capacitors to a case study in Lebanon. Analysis of the economic improvement in the application of power factor correction is carried out. The result shows a reduction of 12 percent in the total cost.