Monitoring the Cost of Energy for Powering the Railway Electric Traction System

The paper deals with the analysis of the particularities of the electric power supply of the railway electric transport systems and the methodology for monitoring and evaluation of the electricity costs in order to develop efficient methods for reducing the losses and, implicitly, reducing the price of energy. The cost methodology for this consumer is analysed, on the basis of which an algorithm is developed and a software module is proposed to monitor the cost of energy needed to power the electric traction system. With the developed methodology and module, the cost of active and reactive energy is calculated and displayed. The results show that the contribution of reactive energy is significant in the total energy cost, which justifies the introduction of the power factor compensation systems, and the active filters to reduce the impact of the harmonics in the supply system.