Power Factor Correction (PFC)

Optimum power quality is essential for commercial and industrial networks. With ever increasing demands on site power, Power Factor Correction is the ideal solution to ensure good power quality.

Main Benefits of PFC

The main benefits of Power Factor Correction are:

Elimination of penalty charges from utility due to low power factor
Improved energy efficiency
Additional power capacity availability
Increased service life of equipment

Electric motors have to be supplied with more energy than they need to do their job because they require a certain amount of electricity just to maintain the necessary magnetic field. This ‘extra’ inductive power is known as reactive (or magnetizing) power, and while utility companies provide a limited amount of it for free, some customers with high reactive power loads are paying for electricity that is not doing any useful work.

Reduce Wasted Energy

The challenge is to reduce the amount of wasted energy and achieve the most efficient use of the electricity being bought.

An electric motor that is not doing any work will generally show a value between 25% and 30% of full load current because of the continuous demand for magnetising current.

The reactive power (kvar) used by equipment such as transformers, electric induction motors, welding units, computer servers and lighting systems also adds additional load to generators, transmission lines, transformers, switchgear and cables and waste a great deal of energy through heat dissipation.

Considered To Be A Reactive Power Component

PFC is also considered to be a reactive power component but is capacitive - its impact in an electrical circuit is to neutralise or compensate for the inductive reactive power. PFC capacitors offset a proportion of the inductive reactive power drawn from the supply to make your company’s power usage more efficient and saving your business money on energy bills.

Without capacitors connected the motors draw active and reactive power and the transformer is fully loaded. With appropriately rated capacitors connected in parallel with the motors, the reactive power drawn from the supply is neutralised and the transformer only feeds active power.

This eliminates the reactive power charges as well as reducing the load on the system and potentially extending the life of components.

KKL Services provide a complete Power Factor Correction service from initial site survey to assess any equipment on site, routine maintenance, repairs and supply, installation and commissioning of new PFC Units.

We recommend that all PFC units are serviced annually to ensure optimum performance and reduce the risk of costly repairs.