Transient Power Quality Mitigation by Synchronized Capacitor Banks Switching

The quality of the transient electricity is disturbed by the switching of the capacitor banks steps, thus affecting the equipment of the related electrical installation. The transitional regime may be defined as the variable mode of transition from an initial state of operation (a permanent regime) to another permanent regime. The transitional regime is generally a short-term one due to the short time constants of the electrical grids, but which may affect the security of electrical installations or the stability of their operation. Transitional phenomena resulting from the switching of capacitor banks are becoming more and more important, as the number of capacitor banks in the supply systems increases. This is because the most common operation is the capacitor banks switching, which can occur several times a day depending on the need of the reactive power/energy to stabilize voltage and maintain power factor in admissible limits. This paper analyzes, using EMTP software, the impact of capacitor transients for different scenarios and with different methods of mitigating the quality of electricity.