Emrullah AKGUN

Tense Elektronik International Technical Support Engineer

In this article; I have prepared a guide about what compensation is, what should be done in an effective compensation, modern compensation (SVC), the difficulties encountered in modern compensation and the solutions we have developed as Tense Elektronik against these difficulties.

Compensation is a vital balance mechanism in every field where there are people, such as factories, hospitals, shopping malls, schools, factories, hotels, etc. In today's developing technological world, all kinds of physical device and machine compensation used have become a necessity rather than a necessity.

What is compensation?

Let's start with a general definition for compensation:

"It is a 'counter-procedure' plan that builds on the expected side effect, which is performed to achieve more efficient and beneficial results."

In every field of our day (life, production, consumption, etc.) the loads needed, due to their characteristic structure, consume both active power and reactive power. Therefore, the excess electricity bill paid by the end user is caused by the loads that he has loaded into the electrical installation in vain.

As a natural result of this situation, energy efficiency decreases, and even the current passing through the installation will be overloaded, which can cause serious damage to the electrical installation by overheating and burning in the cables. For this very reason, this situation can be easily overcome with effective, solution-oriented and new generation compensation methods and tools for the solution of these challenges.

Compensation Challenges and Solutions

At Unstable Loads

The electrical system that exists in every enterprise may not be stable. While the loads in the enterprise are closed at the end of the working hours, the presence of very small KVAR value loads in the system continues. When this is the case, it is very difficult to compensate effectively with a normal reactive relay. Produced with a different and experimental engineering approach , the new generation of reactive power control relays with Tense SVC allows you to open the doors of effective compensation!

In Fast Load Changes

In systems where rapid load changes are experienced, compensation with normal reactive relays will be an inadequate and ineffective approach. If the perspective here is changed a little more and the use of Tense thyristor reactive relays, which can intervene in about 20 MS, is provided, a wonderful and wide playing field will be created for an effective compensation.

Renewable Energy Systems

Solar energy, wind energy, biofuels, hydropower, etc. Energy systems derived from renewable sources show that we are witnessing a trend and transformation on a global scale. Solar Energy Systems (Photovoltaics) are one of the most preferred renewable energy systems.

In solar energy systems, some enterprises use only the energy they produce for themselves, while some enterprises use the energy they produce, while at the same time they can earn income from this system by transferring more than they need to the network. Therefore, since reactive power is consumed at the same time while producing energy in this system, there is a need to establish a compensation system.

Thus, an efficient and effective compensation system ensures an increase in naturally generated revenue. Unfortunately, it is not possible to solve solar energy systems with a normal reactive relay. Using a modern reactive power control relay that can compensate for next-generation, solar energy systems produced with an effective approach here will increase efficiency, efficiency and profit, making the system benefit more visible.

Passwords for an Effective Compensation

In order to make an effective compensation; Let's end our article here by summarizing the features that should be present in a reactive relay item by item.

• Svc Feature: Reactive relays with SVC feature should be used to intervene in very small capacitive loads in the system and to reduce the reactive power in the system to exactly zero in order to make more precise compensation in unbalanced systems.

• Photovoltaic Systems: New generation reactive relays designed to make efficient and effective compensation should be used in enterprises producing energy with solar energy systems.

• Number of Stages: 6-stage, or 8-stage reactive relays are insufficient to compensate in unbalanced systems. Therefore, for such unstable systems, PFCs of 12, 18 or 24 stages should be used.

• THD-I | THD-V Harmonic: The increase in driven loads in today's systems causes an increase in harmonies in the system and these harmonics damage the compensation equipment. In order to prevent this situation, reactive relays that perform harmonic measurement should be used. These reactive relays prevent damage to the equipment by stopping the compensation system when the harmonic value exceeds the specified set value.

• Network Analyzer Feature: It is very important for users that other parameters in the system are visible. Tense Reactive relays can be conveniently used as a network analyzer. It is designed to measure current, voltage, frequency, active power, reactive power, visible power, active and reactive energies, harmonics (up to 61st harmonic), temperature, cosine, pf in the system.

• Error Reporting Messages: Users may encounter connection and system errors when installing reactive relays. Reactive relays that can show error messages on the screen undertake an important task at this point. Thus, the source of the error can be clearly seen and a quick intervention is ensured.

• Outputs: Changes in the environment due to the temperature and operating temperature of the panel cause damage to the compensation equipment. In order to prevent this damage, it is of vital importance that the harmonic is equipped with alarm output feature in reactive relays against voltage fluctuations .

• Power Flow Graph: The increase of unevenly loaded systems requires that reactive relays are capable of determining the most appropriate stages in compensation systems. Thus, much more effective compensation can be made.

• Co-Aging: This feature is used in compensation systems to increase the life of the contactor and capacitor. When there are two capacitors of the same value, there is a need for reactive relays that enable the use of these capacitors sequentially.

• Generator Feature: When the mains electricity is cut off, generators are activated to ensure energy continuity. More efficient energy can be obtained from generators by compensation. As an optional feature in reactive relays, it provides complete continuity of compensation in the system against power failure. Using reactive relays with this feature will be a wise investment in terms of efficiency.

• Thristor Feature: In enterprises with rapid load changes, normal reactive relays cannot keep up with this load change speed. Reactive relays with thyristor structures that can be activated faster can be used to quickly keep up with these load changes.

*You can find all the features listed above in Tense Reactive Power Relays. For detailed information, you can visit our compensation category page.