A reactive power system comprises a plurality of electrical capacitor banks, with each electrical capacitor bank electrically connected in series with an electrical switch. The electrical switches may be electrically connected to a system such as, for example, an electrical induction motor starter system. A controller is coupled with the motor starter system and each of the electrical switches. The controller, in response to receiving a signal from the motor starter system, determines which of the plurality of electrical capacitor banks from which electrical power should be provided for the motor starter system. For the determined or identified electrical capacitor bank(s), the controller identifies the corresponding electrical switch(es) and communicates a signal to close the switch(es). Closing the switches results in the capacitors in the corresponding electrical capacitor banks to be electrically connected to the motor starter system and to provide current to the motor starter system.

Management of an electrical power transmission network is obtained by providing at each subscriber premises a power correction system for applying a switched reactor for voltage correction across the input voltage and a sensing system defined by a pair of meters one at the supply and the second downstream of the voltage correction for detecting variations in power factor. The system includes an arrangement for balancing loads between a first phase on a first BUS and a second phase on a second BUS by calculating a required correction current by adding load currents from the first and second phases. In addition an arrangement is provided when a load is switched on and off power is supplied by or supplied to a battery for a short time and this power is reduced over a time period substantially matching or greater than said natural time constant of the power supply system.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein to a power factor adjustor comprising: a power factor measurement unit configured to measure the power factor on an input line to a load and generate a power factor correction signal based on the measured power factor; and a power factor adjustment unit connected to the power factor measurement unit comprising: a fixed capacitor connected in series to a first switching device; and an adjustable element having a variable capacitance connected in parallel to the fixed capacitor and in series to a second switching device, wherein the overall capacitance of the power factor adjustment unit is adjusted by adjusting the capacitance of the adjustable element or by toggling the first and second switching devices in response to the power factor correction signal.

Systems and methods for an edge of network voltage control of a power grid are described. A system includes a distribution power network, a plurality of loads (at or near an edge of the distribution power network), and a plurality of shunt-connected, switch-controlled volt ampere reactive (VAR) sources also located at the edge or near the edge of the distribution power network where they may each detect a proximate voltage. The VAR source can determine whether to enable a VAR compensation component therein based on the proximate voltage and adjust network VAR by controlling a switch to enable the VAR compensation component. Further still, each of the VAR sources may be integrated within a customer-located asset, such as a smart meter, and a multitude of such VAR sources can be used to effectuate a distributed controllable VAR source (DCVS) cloud network.

Systems and methods for an edge of network voltage control of a power grid are described. A system includes a distribution power network, a plurality of loads (at or near an edge of the distribution power network), and a plurality of shunt-connected, switch-controlled volt ampere reactive (VAR) sources also located at the edge or near the edge of the distribution power network where they may each detect a proximate voltage. The VAR source can determine whether to enable a VAR compensation component therein based on the proximate voltage and adjust network VAR by controlling a switch to enable the VAR compensation component. Further still, each of the VAR sources may be integrated within a customer-located asset, such as a smart meter, and a multitude of such VAR sources can be used to effectuate a distributed controllable VAR source (DCVS) cloud network.

A control device for a static var compensator (SVC) includes: a monitoring control unit configured to generate an error presence/absence signal based on a control signal inputted from a system controller; a valve signal processing unit configured to generate a valve state signal based on databack signals respectively inputted from a plurality of valves; a CPU control unit configured to generate a state information signal based on the error presence/absence signal and the valve state signal; and a firing signal output control unit configured to generate a firing signal according to the state information signal.

A method, apparatus, system and computer program is provided for optimizing and controlling volt-amperes reactive on an electrical control system. System-level and local-level measurements are determined and analyzed to prioritize and optimize which VAR adjusters are adjusted.

The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that performs power factor correction in an electrical distribution system. During operation, the system receives electrical usage data specifying both reactive and resistive loads from a set of smart meters, wherein each smart meter in the set gathers electrical usage data from a customer location in the electrical distribution system. The system also receives weather forecast data for a region served by the electrical distribution system. The system then feeds the electrical usage data and the weather forecast data into a machine-learning model, which was previously trained on historic electrical usage data and historic weather data, to generate predictions for reactive and resistive loads in the electrical distribution system. Finally, the system adjusts capacitive elements in distribution feeds of the electrical distribution system based on the predicted reactive and resistive loads to maintain near-unity power factors for customers of the electrical distribution system.

An improved management of an electrical power transmission network is obtained by providing at each of the subscriber premises a load control device which includes a power correction system for applying a capacitive load and/or a switched reactor for voltage correction across the input voltage and a sensing system defined by a pair of meters one at the supply and the second downstream of the voltage correction for detecting variations in power factor. A control system operates to control the power correction system in response to variations detected by the sensing system and to communicate between the load control device and the network control system so as to provide a bi-directional interactive system.

A system and method for controlling a grid-connected reactive power compensation inverter. The system uses a combination of feedforward and feedback controls to compute a reference voltage signal based on sensor-measured voltages and currents, where the reference voltage signal is used to control the inverter switches. The disclosed method modifies a cross-couple feedforward signal used in the reference voltage calculations, where the modified cross-couple signal includes a combination of both reference and actual currents, and the modified control scheme reduces the DC-link voltage overshoot experienced during a capacitive overload event while still providing the required reactive power and maintaining grid system stability.