Engineering Solutions in Power Quality, Energy Management and Reactive Power Compensation

Power quality problems such as harmonics, voltage sags and swells, flicker, transients and voltage unbalance can occur in electrical systems. They can arise from non-linear loads, sudden load changes, network events and the electrical structure of the facility itself. Poor power quality can cause overheating in equipment, nuisance tripping, energy losses, shorter equipment life and interruptions to production continuity.

Residual current monitoring (RCM) measures leakage currents in the electrical system continuously, allowing insulation degradation, cabling problems and other electrical faults to be detected at an early stage.

Energy monitoring systems measure and analyse electricity consumption continuously, at facility, feeder, department or machine level. Alongside electricity, other energy sources such as water, natural gas and compressed air can be tracked through the same system.

In industrial and commercial facilities the reactive power balance can be upset both by inductive loads such as motors and transformers and by loads with a capacitive effect such as UPS systems, drives and long cable runs. This can disturb the reactive power balance, move the power factor away from the desired level, draw unnecessary current from the network, increase losses and incur reactive energy charges.

Medium voltage compensation systems hold the power factor at the desired level in high-power industrial facilities by supplying the reactive power that inductive loads require within the plant itself. This reduces the reactive power drawn from the network, lowers electrical losses and makes more efficient use of existing system capacity.

SVG (Static Var Generator) systems respond quickly and dynamically to both inductive and capacitive reactive power demand, providing fast, stepless compensation. Unlike conventional capacitor-step compensation systems, SVG systems work on power electronics, which allows reactive power to be controlled precisely under rapidly changing load conditions.

SVC and STATCOM systems provide dynamic reactive power compensation and voltage control in facilities where reactive power demand changes rapidly and continuously. They are effective above all in applications where the response time of conventional compensation systems is not sufficient.

Nonlinear loads such as frequency converters, rectifiers, UPS systems, power electronics equipment and arc furnaces can cause current and voltage harmonics on the network. High harmonic levels lead to overheating in transformers, cables and capacitors, to increased energy losses, to a risk of resonance and to unexpected failures in sensitive equipment.