Passive Reactive Power Compensators for Improving the Sustainability of Three-Phase, Four-Wire Sinusoidal Systems Supplied by Unbalanced Voltages

Elisa Peñalvo-López, Vicente León-Martínez, Joaquín Montañana-Romeu and Javier Cárcel-Carrasco
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Elisa Peñalvo-López: Institute for Energy Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Vicente León-Martínez: Institute for Energy Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Joaquín Montañana-Romeu: Institute for Energy Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Javier Cárcel-Carrasco: Institute for Energy Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: Compensation of reactive power is necessary in power systems due to economical, energetic, and environmental reasons. Reactive power increases energy power losses and carbon dioxide emissions in distribution lines and power transformers. However, capacitor banks used in most industrial applications do not significantly reduce energy losses in lines and transformers when supply voltages and loads are unbalanced and therefore do not fully improve the sustainability of distribution networks. This fact is explained in this paper using positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence reactive power components in three-phase, four-wire sinusoidal power systems supplied with unbalanced voltages. Likewise, several devices have also been developed for the compensation of the total reactive power and, specifically, for each of its components in these power systems. Comparing the effectiveness of these reactive compensators and other well-known passive compensators as capacitor banks on the sustainability improvement of the electrical installation of an actual industry, reductions between 20% and 100% in energy losses and carbon dioxide emissions, caused by circulation of reactive currents in transformer and lines, can be expected depending on the type of compensator used.

Keywords: reactive power; reactive components; reactive compensation; unbalanced systems; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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