TECHNICAL-DESCRIPTIVE CALCULATION

MEMORY
POWER FACTOR COMPENSATION

Prepare for: Universidad Politécnica de Aguascalientes

Location: San Gerardo, Aguascalientes, AGS.

Produced by: Eng. Diego Guadalupe López Cruz

Date: February 24th, 2024.

Review: February 27th, 2024.
 TECHNICAL-DESCRIPTIVE CALCULATION MEMORY
1. Scopes
The purpose of this document is to document the analysis, sizing and selection of equipment for
compensation of the power factor of the load center, in addition to adding the bonus/penalty
analysis to the electric bill.

The load center is Universidad Politécnica de Aguascalientes, located in Paseo de San Gerardo 207,
San Gerardo, 20342, Aguascalientes, AGS.

The capacity of the capacitor bank is 50 kVAr.

The design of conductors, conduits or protections is not carried out in this document.

The sizing is carried out with the data provided by the user. Any modification to these will alter the
operating results of the designed compensation system.

The electrical design is carried out in accordance with current national regulations:

• NOM-001-SEDE-2012

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 1

 2. Power Analysis
According to the electric bill provided by the load center, power demand (kW) and power factor in
the last periods are summarized in Table 1.

From the data provided, the reactive power of each period is calculated according to Equation 1.
The result is rounded to the next integer.

𝑄 = 𝑃[tan⁡(𝛷)]⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡(1)
Where:
𝑄 is the reactive power, kVAr.
𝑃 is the active power (or demand), kW.
𝛷 is the phase angle, 𝛷 = arccos(𝑝𝑓), (degrees).

Table 1: Power analysis.

Calculated
Demand Registered
Period reactive power
(kW) power factor
(kVAr)
2023 January 314 0.8780 172
2023 February 314 0.8908 161
2023 March 340 0.9076 158
2023 April 283 0.9132 127
2023 May 219 0.8867 115
2023 June 295 0.8980 145
2023 July 297 0.8965 147
2023 August 344 0.8968 170
2023 September 345 0.9035 164
2023 October 351 0.9114 159
2023 November 304 0.8800 165
2023 December 245 0.9114 111

The behavior of active power demand and apparent power is illustrated in Figure 1.

As can be seen, although the demand in kW does not acquire a constant form, the calculated
reactive power is a little more uniform, having an average throughout the study period (and with
rounding to the next integer) of 150 kVAr.

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 2

 Figure 1: Power Analysis

The behavior of the power factor throughout the period is shown in Figure 2.

The average power factor of the entire period is 0.8978.

Figure 2: Registered power factor

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 3

 3. Reactive Power Compensation
Since the average power factor (pf) is less than 0.9000, and in seven of twelve periods the
pf is below this limit, reactive power compensation will be performed.
Although for this load center, whose contracted demand is 318 kW (see electricity bill), a
power factor greater than 0.9000 is required, the adjustment will be made to a pf of 0.9500.
It is necessary to determine the phase angle for the new pf, which is determined as
indicated in Equation 2.

𝛷 = arccos(𝑝𝑓)⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡(2)
Where:
𝛷 is the phase angle, (degrees).
𝑝𝑓 is the power factor (decimal).

Solving for the new pf:

𝛷0.9500 = arccos(0.9500)
𝜱𝟎.𝟗𝟓𝟎𝟎 = 𝟏𝟖. 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟗°

To calculate the new reactive power from the new power factor, Equation 1 is used.
Power factor compensation is performed with the difference between the actual reactive
power 𝑄1 and the new reactive power 𝑄2 .
Simplifying this compensation, Equation 3 is obtained.

𝑄𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑄1 − 𝑄2 = 𝑃[tan(𝛷1 ) − tan(𝛷2 )]⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡(3)

Where:
𝑄𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 is the reactive power needed to compensate the pf, (kVAr).

𝛷1 is the phase angle for the actual pf, (degrees).

𝛷2 is the phase angle for the new pf, (degrees).

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 4

The contracted demand will be taken into account to correct the power factor, which is 318
kW. Thus, solving (3):

𝑄𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = (318⁡𝑘𝑊)[tan(26.1296°) − tan(18.1949°)]

𝑸𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = 𝟒𝟓. 𝟐𝟖⁡𝒌𝑽𝑨𝒓

The value obtained for reactive power is not a commercial value. Therefore, the immediate
available commercial value is chosen, which is 50 kVAr.

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 5

 4. Penalty/Bonus in Electricity Billing
The penalty conditions for low pf or high pf bonus that the supplier makes on the electricity
billing are shown in Equation 4 and Equation 5, respectively.

3 0.9
𝑝𝑓 < 0.90, %𝑃𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 = [ − 1] [100%]⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡(4)
5 𝑝𝑓
1 0.9
𝑝𝑓 > 0.90, %𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑢𝑠 = [1 − ] [100%]⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡⁡(5)
4 𝑝𝑓

Denoting as (+) a penalty and (-) a bonus, Table 2 summarizes the charges for the power
factor in the period studied and the bonus for correcting the pf to 0.9500.

Table 2: Penalty/Bonus charges

Additional charges in New charges by pf

Period electric billing by pf compensation
(%) (%)
2023 January 1.5 -1.3
2023 February 0.6 -1.3
2023 March -0.2 -1.3
2023 April -0.4 -1.3
2023 May 0.9 -1.3
2023 June 0.1 -1.3
2023 July 0.2 -1.3
2023 August 0.2 -1.3
2023 September -0.1 -1.3
2023 October -0.3 -1.3
2023 November 1.4 -1.3
2023 December -0.3 -1.3

Produced by: Diego López Cruz DC 6