Is Reactive Power Useful?

Importance of
Reactive Power

What is Reactive Power and Why it is Useful? 

In recent years, the reactive power control has been the subject of a systematic study
as it plays an important role in maintaining a secure voltage profile in a large scale
transmission system. Though it is a byproduct of alternating current systems, it is
needed for the acceptable functioning of various electrical systems such as
transmission lines, motors, transformer, etc.

It is essential for the operation of all most all of the electromagnetic energy devices
for producing the magnetic field. In some cases it is forcefully injected into the power
system network to maintain higher node voltage. Let us discuss the importance of
reactive power in brief.

What is Reactive Power?

It is the quantity that has become a fundamental concept to the analysis and
understanding of AC electric power system. In general, this quantity is only defined
for Alternating Current (AC) electric systems.

Note: You can check the funny but logical definition of Reactive Power here.
It is one of the total power components in an AC circuit that has its origin in the
phase shift between a sinusoidal voltage and current waveforms. It is defined as the
amplitude of power oscillation with no net transfer of energy.

It is a consequence or byproduct of an AC system that travel back and forth in the

power conductor, i.e.,  flowing to reactive components from a source during one half
cycle and back to the source during another half cycle of an AC waveform.

The average value of power is therefore zero, which implies that the load never get
consumes reactive power.  In case of a three phase circuit, at any instant reactive
powers of three phases add up to zero.  To differentiate from active power which
performs useful work, reactive power is measured in “VAR” that stands for Volt-
Ampere-Reactive, rather than in Watts.
It can be expressed as Q = S sin ϕ

Q = VI sin ϕ

Q = P tan ϕ

Where S = apparent power and P = active power.

Reactive power is temporarily stored in the form of electric or magnetic fields that flows
back and forth due to capacitive and inductive components. Reactive power can be
generated as well as absorbed by power transmission system elements by virtue of
shunt susceptance and series reactance respectively.

As discussed, it has its origin in phase shift, if current through a device lags the
voltage, then the device consumes reactive power. Depending on the phase shift
between the voltage and current, the amount of reactive power consumption of the
device is decided.

Since the reactive power is simply moving back and forth in the line (transmission
line or any other conductor), it acts as an additional load. So the reactive power is
considered for rating of all cables, transformers, switchgear and other electrical
equipments.

This implies that all those installations need to be designed for the apparent power
which considers both active and reactive power. If the reactive power exists in
excess amounts, it will greatly reduce the system power factor and hence lowers the
operational efficiency. This causes undesirable voltage drops, greater conduction
losses, excess heating and higher operational costs.

In order to overcome these limitations, reactive power compensation techniques are

generally employed in electrical transmission systems to improve system efficiency
and even for power factor correction. On the other hand, reactive power is important
for proper operation of electrical equipment for several reasons that we will discuss
briefly in this article.

The aim of this article is to give a normal statement that a sufficient quantity of
reactive power is needed to run many electrical devices as well as power system
network and which is provided by the reactive power sources exactly at the location
where it is consumed.

Sources and Sinks of Reactive Power

Reactive power is generated or absorbed by many equipments connected to the

power system network. The reactive power flow through the network is therefore
controlled by these equipments. Let us have a look at these reactive power sources.
Generators: Synchronous machines able to generate or absorb reactive power
depending upon DC excitation to its field winding. It generates the reactive power
when over-excited and absorbs reactive power when under-excited. It is most
commonly used source of reactive power for voltage control.

Capacitors and Reactors: Capacitive and inductive devices are used in series and
shunt compensation techniques to control reactive power thereby to regulate system
voltage and stability. A capacitive compensator generates reactive power, whereas
an inductive compensator absorbs reactive power.

Series capacitor compensation is generally applied for transmission lines to generate

reactive power when it is most needed while shunt capacitors are installed at
substations in load areas to generate reactive power and for keeping voltage within
limits. Reactors (shunt) are mainly used to absorb the reactive power to keep the
voltage down and also to compensate capacitive load on the line.

Transmission Lines and Underground Cables: Both transmission lines and cables
absorb and generate reactive power. A heavily loaded transmission line consumes
reactive power, decreasing the voltage of the line whilst a lightly loaded transmission
line generates reactive power, increasing the voltage of the line.

Solid State Converters: There are several solid state converters in-use in power
system operation, such as HVDC converters. These converters always consume
reactive power when they are in operation. For this reason, most of the converters
use reactive compensation devices to control reactive power requirement of the
converters.
Transformers: In order to produce a magnetic field, transformer need reactive power,
therefore it absorbs the reactive power. The reactive power consumption of a
transformer depends on rating and current loading.

Loads: There are many reactive power consuming loads that have a great impact on
bus or system voltage and stability. Some of these loads include induction motors,
induction generators, arc furnaces, discharged lighting, constant loads such as
(induction heating, space heating, water heating, and air conditioning.

Importance of Reactive Power

Reactive power is both the problem and solution to the power system network for
several reasons. It plays an important role in the electrical power system for various
functions such as satisfying the reactive power requirement, improving the voltage
profiles, decreasing the network loss, providing sufficient reserve to ensure system
security in emergencies, and other several functions. Let us discuss some of the
reasons in brief, which makes reactive power so important.

1. Voltage Control

In general, all the electrical equipments are designed to operate satisfactorily within
specified limits of rated voltage (i.e., ±6 percent) at the consumer terminals. The
voltage variations are mainly caused due to variation in load on power system
source.
If the load on power system source increases, the voltage drop in power system
components increases thereby voltage at the consumer terminals decreases, and
vice-versa. These voltage changes on the supply system is undesirable as it deviates
the actual performance of the equipments at the consumer end such as lamps,
motors and other equipments sensitive to voltage variations.

A power system, therefore, must be designed so as to maintain those voltage

variations by providing voltage-control equipment at suitable places. The most
common method of maintaining the voltage profile is through injecting and
absorbing reactive power. In general, increasing reactive power causes the system
voltage to rise while decreasing reactive power causes voltage to fall.

The voltage control equipment is placed in two or more than two places (by avoiding
long distance transmission of reactive power due to excessive reactive power
losses) in the power system network because there will be different voltage drops in
different sections of transmission and distribution systems and also load
characteristics will be different in various circuits of the power system.

Most commonly this equipment is placed at power generating stations, transmission

substations and feeders.
Different techniques are used for controlling voltage in the power transmission line
such as excitation control, tap-changing transformers, shunt capacitors, series
capacitors, synchronous condensers, and boosters. Each method has its own
advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the suitability, availability and
expensiveness, these methods are employed for controlling the receiving-end
voltage.

In case of highly loaded condition (i.e., reactive power demand is more than that of
the supplied), the more current is drawn from the supply that leads the receiving-end
voltage to fall drastically. If there exists greater voltage drop, it causes to trip the
generating units, equipment failures and overheating of motors.

Under this condition, automatic operating mechanism or relays activate the reactive
power equipment such that reactive power is increased (for instance, generator
excitation terminal voltage is increased to provide more alternating current to the
alternator) to bring back the voltage to rated value. This is also achieved with series
reactors and series capacitors.

In case of light loaded condition (i.e., power demand is less than the supply of
reactive power), receiving-end voltage rises to a greater value. It will cause to
insulation damage to machines, lower power factor and automatic tripping of
equipments.

Under this condition, additional reactive power in the lines is compensated by

automatic reactive power compensation equipments such as synchronous
condensers, excitation control by alternator, shunt capacitors and reactors.

1. To Satisfy Reactive Power Demand

Some loads such as transformers and HVDC converters need reactive power for their
proper functioning. When the loads have large reactive power demand, the voltage
drop will take place.

As the voltage drops, more current will be drawn from the supply to maintain the
power, causing the lines to consume more reactive power and hence voltage drop
further. This will lead to voltage collapse if voltage drops too low. This voltage
collapse causes to tripping of generators, instability of the system and tripping of
other equipments connected to the power system.

This voltage collapse is due to the fact that the power system unable to supply
reactive power demand of load which is not being met due to shortage of reactive
power generation and transmission.

In order to overcome this, reactive power sources like series capacitors are
connected to the loads locally where reactive power is required by the loads.
However, utility companies charge consumers as a penalty for reactive power
demand if the loads draw excessive reactive power over allowable reactive power
demand.

1. To Reduce Electrical Blackouts

Inadequate reactive power in electrical power system network has been a major
reason in power outages in worldwide. As discussed, insufficient quantity of reactive
power causes voltage collapse that ultimately leads to the shutdown of generating
stations and various equipments. Some of these blackouts include, at Tokyo in July
23, 1987; at London in Aug 28, 2003; at Sweden and Denmark in Sep 23, 2003.
1. To Produce Magnetic Flux

Most inductive loads such as motors, transformers, ballasts and induction heating
equipments require reactive power in order to produce a magnetic field. In every
electrical machine, a part of input energy, i.e., reactive power is consumed for
creating and maintaining magnetic flux to do so. However, it leads to lower the power
factor. In order to achieve the high power factor, capacitors are generally connected
across these devices to supply the reactive power.

This is a small note on the significance of reactive power. Hope you get an idea on
this concept. Perhaps, you have a great knowledge on this topic, so please feel free
to add any comments, experiences and more information about this topic in
comment section below.