Improvement of power factor of a grid connected load system using a static compensator

Abstract

The power factor deteriorates due to non-linear loads, interconnected grid system, amplitude disturbances and wave shape disturbances. A low power factor system draws high internal current causing excessive heat. It requires heavier equipments to absorb internal energy requirements. Also large penalty is imposed on low power factor consumers. So power factor should be improved in order to get rid of the above problems. In this paper, a shunt connected Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) device such as Static Compensator (STATCOM) is used to improve the power factor by compensating the reactive power required by the load.