Excellence in Electrical Power Distribution: Power Factor Correction at its best

Excellence in Electrical Power Distribution: Power Factor Correction at its best

Cost for Reactive Power is an issue – everywhere. But when it comes to a price increase by factor 10 – such as seen in the Republic of the Sudan during last year – there is no time to waste.

Pumping Stations Operators have been faced to a massive increase of cost for reactive Power – even as far as it surpasses the actual cost for Energy.

Power Factor Correction – PFC – is the answer, but not an easy one. PFC in the environment of a Pumping Station has to consider many variables:

Motor speed

Motor Loead (water level)

Voltage fluctuations

Frequency

EQ has successfully integrated a modular Power Factor Correction (PFC) System in 4 interconnected Pumping Stations – the System mainly consists of:

3,3kV Medium Voltage Switchgear panels (withdrawable) – seamless extension of existing Switchgear

Automatic Power Factor Correction Equipment with variable quantity of capacitor banks, switching automatically according to actual Power Factor Correction needed

The implementation resulted immediately in massive cost savings – the pay back period is around 14 months – depending on actual prices for Energy and Reactive Power.

Keywords

Pumping Station, Power Distribution, Automation, Power Factor Correction