Test Specification for Design of Power Capacitors for Power Factor Improvement in a Power Distribution System

In the power distribution industry today, utility companies are trying to come up with a solution to increase the efficiency of distributed power. One way of achieving this task is by improving the power factor of a system by adding power factor correction capacitors. Power factor improvement is a very important aspect of power distribution. Without a good power factor, there cannot be an efficient means of transporting energy over long distances due to the losses associated with moving power through a wire. This action has led to multiple studies on power factor correction. In order to achieve maximum efficiency, we had to increase our power factor as close to unity as possible. We accomplished this controlled boost of power factor by installing the proper number of specifically designed high voltage power capacitors at the substation. In designing our capacitors, there were certain design constraints that had to be met and overcome. Our capacitors were designed according to established IEEE standard 18-1992. In addition, our capacitor bank was built around an average load on a typical substation. This typical substation is rated at 15kV and during the peak hours of the day, its load of 3MW draws a total of 2MVAR of reactive power. Using these typical specifications, a bank of fort