Author : Abhay Pratap Singh and Manish Kumar Srivastava

Wasted energy capacity, also known as poor power factor, is often overlooked. It can result in poor reliability, safety problems and higher energy costs. The lower your power factor, the less economically your system operates. The actual amount of power being used, or dissipated, in a circuit is called true power. Reactive loads such as inductors and capacitors make up what is called reactive power. The linear combination of true power and reactive power is called apparent power. Power system loads consist of resistive, inductive, and capacitive loads. Examples of resistive loads are incandescent lighting and electric heaters. Examples of inductive loads are induction motors, transformers, and reactors. Examples of capacitive loads are capacitors, variable or fixed capacitor banks, motor starting capacitors, generators, and synchronous motors. Power factor correction (PFC) is usually achieved by adding capacitive load to offset the inductive load present in the power system. The power factor of the power system is constantly changing due to variations in the size and number of the motors being used at one time. This makes it difficult to balance the inductive and capacitive loads continuously. There are many benefits to having power factor correction. As a customer the cost doesn’t get passed on for having a low power factor. As a utility company, equipment has a much longer life span and maintenance costs remain low.

Keywords: Wasted energy capacity, power factor etc.

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.8, No.5 (Sept/Oct 2018)