Characteristics and Measurements of Capacitor Switching at Medium Voltage Distribution Level

Capacitors are used extensively in power systems for power factor improvement. Refineries are large, concentrated, electrical power demand facilities. Because of the large quantity of motor load, some refineries have large banks of power factor correction capacitors. This releases much KVA for efficient use of the distribution system. There are occasions when capacitor bank switching on or off line is required. There are many characteristics that are associated with these events. These characteristics have been treated somewhat individually in many good technical papers. This paper presents the main / basic characteristics and impact that capacitors and capacitor switching cause on medium voltage plant distribution systems. Analytical information and the results of actual measurement are included. The measurement equipment used also provided harmonic spectrum analysis which gave insight into the basic system characteristics.