I was wondering if anyone knew whether power factor correction actually lowers the electric bill. If it does, will a leading power factor cancel out the savings paying for "lead amps" as opposed to "lag amps" instead of unity?

Kevin

 

Most large industries are penalized on their peak kVA. This can be a significant portion of the bill, i.e. 30%. By improving the power factor you reduce your peak kVA and the penalty. I'm not sure what happens if you over-correct, but I suspect you would not be penalized.

Roy

 

The Penalty is for KVA. The Power factor anything away from unity (whether lagging or leading) leads to increase in the KVA.

Since the loads in general are lagging, Capacitors are used for providing the leading component. The leading PF indicates your PF correction equipment is not designed properly. You are not getting the benefit of using this equipment.

Jamaluddin

 

Try to calculate the power using the basic equation P= 1.732xIVxp.f

Suppose you have a power factor of 85% lagging. The consumption of electricity if you will have 85% leading will be the same.

The purpose of using capacitor bank is avoid voltage drops due to equipments that use electromagnets such as motors, and lighting ballasts.

 

A great resource for power factor penalities reduction/elimination is http://www.rwrengineering.com. RWR Engineering focuses primarily on industrial and commercial power factor correction and can save businesses. Let Rick know if you need anything-

Sam