Calculation Methodology for

Reactive Power Consumption of

Three Winding Transformers in
PV Plants

By Pratim Dutta, Pradeep Solanki, Satnam Mahley

www.sterlingandwilsonsolar.com
 Abstract:
Three winding transformers are used in solar PV plants as inverter duty transformers for evacuating the generated
power from PV inverters up to the MV voltage level & also as main power transformers for transferring the power from
MV to HV voltage level. Just like any other electrical equipment which is inductive in nature, these three winding
transformers also consume reactive power while functioning.

In this paper the author intends to describe the methodology for calculation of the reactive power consumed by a three
winding transformer, which is cumbersome to some extent & different from the orthodox calculation procedure which
is generally adopted for the calculation of reactive power consumption of two winding power transformers.

Introduction:
In a solar PV plant the generated power flows from the two LV windings to the HV winding of a three winding
transformer. Hence the general approach is to first calculate the reactive power for HV winding to LV winding-1 & HV
winding to LV winding-2 individually & then these two calculated reactive power values are added to find out the total
reactive power consumed by the three winding transformer. But this method of calculation is not correct since the
magnetic coupling between the two LV windings also play significant role in the reactive power consumption of the
three winding transformer, due to which the actual reactive power consumed by a three winding transformer is higher
than the one calculated by the above method. Therefore it is of utmost importance to correctly calculate the reactive
power consumption of the three winding transformers of a solar PV plant as it constitutes a substantial portion of the
total reactive power consumption of the plant. If the reactive power requirement of the three winding transformers of a
solar PV plant are not accounted for carefully, additional quantity of reactive power compensation devices may be
required to meet the reactive power requirement of the plant, leading to additional cost being incurred.

Methodology for Calculation of Reactive Power

Consumption of Three Winding Inverter Duty Transformers: -
A three winding inverter duty transformer has one HV winding & two LV windings. While the HV winding is connected
to the breaker feeder of the respective RMU, each of the LV windings is connected to the AC output terminals of the
respective inverter (or an inverter unit). The total generated power from the two inverters (or inverter units) is transferred
to the MV voltage level by the inverter duty transformer. While doing so the inverter duty transformer itself consumes
reactive power which is required for magnetizing its core & holding the magnetism during its operation on load.

The reactive power consumed by a power transformer has two components namely the no load component (Tvar-NL)
& load component (Tvar-L). The no load component of the reactive power is consumed when the transformer is on no
load i.e. in open circuit condition & the load component comes in picture when load is applied on the transformer. The
value of Tvar-L varies with load & hence depends on the load at which it is measured whereas the value of Tvar-NL is
fixed as it depends on the excitation current of the transformer which is fixed & not dependent on load.

The above mentioned two components of the reactive power for a two winding power transformer can be calculated
from the following formulas: -

Tvar-NL = Ie 2 * Xm Eqn. A

Where,
Ie = Excitation current of transformer
Xm = Magnetizing reactance of the transformer

Calculation Methodology for Reactive Power Consumption of Three Winding Transformers in PV Plants 2
Tvar-L = kVArated * (z / 100 ) * (IL / Irated)2………………. Eqn. B
Where,
kVArated = Rated kVA of the power transformer
z = Per unit impedance of the power transformer in percentage at rated kVA base
IL = Load current at which reactive power consumption of the power transformer is to be calculated
Irated = Rated current of the power transformer

Note: - The on load reactive power consumed by a power transformer is actually dependent upon the series leakage
reactance of the transformer. Hence for convenience of calculation total percentage impedance of the transformer can
be used in the above equation as percentage impedance = √ ( series leakage reactance2 + resistance2) ≈ series leakage
reactance since series leakage reactance >> winding resistance.

From the above it is seen that the on load reactive power consumed by a two winding power transformer is dependent
on the percentage impedance of the transformer which involves both the primary & secondary windings of the
transformer. The percentage impedance of a power transformer is calculated by referring the impedance of one of the
windings to the other side & then calculating the total impedance of the transformer with respect to base impedance of
the side to which the other side parameters have been referred. Therefore the on load reactive power consumption of a
two winding power transformer is only dependent on the percentage impedance of the transformer & thus can easily be
calculated using the above Eqn. B.

However, in case of a three winding power transformer the calculation of on load reactive power is not as simple as above
since it involves three separate windings which are magnetically coupled to each other & hence each pair of winding has
its own mutual percentage impedance value. For example, a three winding inverter duty transformer having one HV
winding & two LV windings shall have separate HV-LV1, HV-LV2 & LV1-LV2 impedances. All these percentage impedance
values contribute to the calculation of the total on load reactive power consumption of the three winding inverter duty
transformer. Therefore one overall percentage impedance value is required to be found out based on the aforementioned
three pairs of percentage impedance values for the three winding inverter duty transformer, which can be used to
calculate the total on load reactive power consumption of the three winding transformer at any load.

The overall percentage impedance of a three winding inverter duty transformer can be calculated from the following
formula: -
Zoverall = (Zhv-lv1 + Zhv-lv2) / 2 * {1 + (Zhv-lv1 + Zhv-lv1 – Zlv1-lv2) / (Zhv-lv1 + Zhv-lv1)} ………………. Eqn. C
Where,
Zoverall = Overall percentage impedance of three winding inverter duty transformer
Zhv-lv1 = Percentage impedance between HV winding & LV winding-1
Zhv-lv2 = Percentage impedance between HV winding & LV winding-2
Zlv1-lv2 = Percentage impedance between LV winding-1 & LV winding-2

All the above mentioned impedance values are at half of the nominal kVA rating of the three winding inverter duty
transformer. Once the value of zoverall is calculated, the on load reactive power consumption of the three winding
inverter duty transformer can be found out from the above Eqn. B by replacing the value of parameter ‘z’ in the equation
with the value of zoverall so that
Tvar-L-3w = kVArated * (Zoverall / 100 ) * (IL / Irated)2………………. Eqn. D;
Here kVArated is the nominal kVA rating of the three winding inverter duty transformer

Calculation Methodology for Reactive Power Consumption of Three Winding Transformers in PV Plants 3
 Example: - Let us consider the following parameters for a three winding inverter duty transformer kVArated = 4300 kVA
zhv-lv1 = 5.4% at 2150 kVA base
zhv-lv2 = 5.4% at 2150 kVA base
zlv1-lv2 = 9.2% at 2150 kVA base
Based on the above parameters we can calculate the value of overall impedance of the three winding
transformer from Eqn. C.
Hence zoverall = (5.4 + 5.4) / 2 * {1 + (5.4 + 5.4 – 9.2) / (5.4 + 5.4)} = 6.2%

Now from Eqn. D we can get the value of total on load reactive power consumption of the three
winding inverter duty transformer at full load.
Hence Tvar-L-3w = 4300 * (6.2 / 100 ) * (Irated / Irated)2 since IL = Irated at full load
= 266.6 kVAr
Similarly at 50% load the on load reactive power consumed by the three winding transformer shall be = 4300 *
(6.2 / 100 ) * ( (Irated/2) / Irated )2 = 66.65 kVAr since IL = Irated/2 at 50% load.

The total reactive power consumption of the three winding inverter duty transformer at different loads can now be
calculated if the values of excitation current & magnetizing reactance of the transformer are known. But in practical
application excitation current of a power transformer is negligibly small with respect to the full load current of the
transformer i.e. in the order of 0.25-0.5%. Since the no load reactive power consumed by the transformer is also
proportional to the square of the excitation current, therefore for practical purpose the no load component of reactive
power can be neglected for calculating the total reactive power consumption of the transformer at higher loads.

Hence if the individual values of percentage impedance of HV winding to LV winding-1, HV winding to LV winding-2 & LV
winding-1 to LV winding-2 are known we can easily calculate the reactive power consumed by a three winding inverter
duty transformer at various loads.

Note: -The above calculation methodology is applicable not only for three winding inverter duty transformers of
PV plant, but also for the three winding power transformers used in substation or any other three winding power
transformer.

Assumptions: - The above formulas used for the calculation of the overall impedance of a three winding inverter duty
transformer are based on the following assumptions: -
1. The loading on the two LV windings of the inverter duty transformer shall always be same i.e. the total load of
the three winding inverter duty transformer shall be equally divided between the two LV windings at any instant.
2. The values of the percentage impedance between HV & LV winding-1 and HV & LV winding-2 shall be same.
As per IEEE C57.159-2016, the absolute difference between the HV-LV1 & HV-LV2 impedances is
recommended to be no more than 2% of the impedance value.*

*In the context of this paper it is noteworthy to mention that the LV1-LV2 impedance is recommended to be not less than
8% at half of the nominal kVA rating of the transformer as per IEEE C57.159-2016. In fact higher values of LV1-LV2
impedance shall lead to reduced on load reactive power consumption of the three winding transformer. Also LV1-LV2
impedance value should be designed high enough to decouple these two windings from each other so that in case of
fault in any of the LV windings contribution from the other LV winding is minimum towards the fault.

Calculation Methodology for Reactive Power Consumption of Three Winding Transformers in PV Plants 4
 Reference: -
1 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (2016). IEEE C57.159: IEEE Guide on Transformers for
Application in Distributed Photovoltaic (DPV) Power Generation Systems

Calculation Methodology for Reactive Power Consumption of Three Winding Transformers in PV Plants 5
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Calculation Methodology for Reactive Power Consumption of Three Winding Transformers in PV Plants Published October 2020