AIR CORE REACTORS

Shunt Reactors
in Power Systems

Tech News

AREVA T&Ds Expertise

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During normal operation of an electrical power system,
the transmission and distribution voltages must be
maintained within a small range, typically, from 0.95
to 1.05 pu of rated value. Due to the load variations,
shunt reactors and capacitors have been applied in
power systems to compensate excess reactive power
(inductive for heavy load conditions, and capacitive for
light load conditions). Shunt reactors are commonly
used to compensate the capacitive reactive power of
transmission and distribution systems and thereby to
keep the operating voltages within admissible levels.
The purpose of this document is to present some
information about the application and specification of
shunt reactors for electrical power systems.

AREVA T&DS TECHNOLOGY AND

EXPERIENCE
AREVA T&D has more than 30 years of experience
in designing and manufacturing air-core dry-type
reactors (ACR) for various market segments around
the world, including power generation, transmission
and distribution systems, industrial plants, OEM
and electrical test laboratories. Reactive shunt
compensation is one of the most common applications
of air-core reactors.
Air-core shunt reactors are applicable to system
voltages up to 72,5 kV and typically they are connected
to tertiary winding of large power transformers. Due to
the required ratings, the ACR for this application are
designed in fiberglass encapsulated technology.
In fiberglass encapsulated technology, the reactors
winding consists of numerous insulated aluminum
connected in parallel. These conductors are
mechanically immobilized and encapsulated in epoxy
impregnated fiberglass filaments forming cylinders.
Depending on the reactors ratings, one or more of
these cylinders are connected in parallel between
the aluminium spiders. The individual cylinders are
separated by fiberglass spacers, which form the
cooling ducts of the coil.
The benefits in using AREVA T&D air-core shunt
reactors are:
> Maintenance free and environmentally friendly
> Conservative temperature rise for extended service life
> Customized space saving solutions for installation in
compact areas
> Surface treatment for protection against UV radiation
and pollution
> High mechanical strength to withstand elevated
short-circuit forces
> Low noise level for sensitive applications

In the following sections general information will be

presented about the application of shunt reactors to
electrical power systems and two different ways to
specify the required ratings of the equipment
(MVAr ratings).

APPLICATION OF SHUNT REACTORS

The calculation of optimum ratings and points of
connection of shunt reactors is generally done by
means of extensive load flow studies, taking into
account all possible system configurations. One
approach for a single line is presented below.
Depending on system voltage, shunt reactors may be
inserted directly connected to station busbars (Pos. 1),
to transmission line terminations (Pos. 2) or connected
to tertiary winding of large power transformers (Pos. 3),
as shown in the picture 1.

Pos.2

Pos.2

Pos.1
Pos.3

Picture 1 Shunt reactor application in power systems

The majority of shunt reactors for system voltages

of 72,5 kV or above are in the 30 to 300 MVAr range
(threephase power) and they are normally connected
directly to high voltage busbar or transmission line
ending. For these voltage levels, reactors are most
commonly oil-filled type. Future reactors in the range
72,5 to 145 kV will tend to be air-core dry-type coil
units.
Shunt reactors rated below 72,5 kV are either oilfilled or air-core dry-type units and they are normally
connected to the tertiary winding of large power
transformers. The range of reactive power varies from a
few MVAr to 100 MVAr.
The winding connection of three-phase reactors or
a bank of three single-phase units can be either wye
(most common configuration) or delta. Typically, for
system voltages of 72,5 kV or above, the reactors are
wye connected with the neutral grounded directly or
through a neutral reactor (also named four reactor
scheme). For system voltages below 72,5 kV, the
reactors are wye connected with the neutral
ungrounded.

XR

XR
X NEUTRAL

W y e c o n nec t i o n (Fo ur R eact ors Schem e )

D e l ta co nn ec t io n

Picture 2 Winding connection of shunt reactors

MAIN CALCULATION OF SHUNT REACTORS

For the calculation of the positive sequence reactance and the
current requirements of a shunt reactor, it is necessary to know
only the rated three-phase reactive power and the rated system
voltage and frequency, as summarized in the table below.
RATING

WYE CONNECTION

DELTA CONNECTION

Reactance

Rated Current

Maximum Continuous Current

(Design Current)

Parameters

> rated reactance per phase (positive sequence)

> rated three-phase reactive power
> rated reactive power per phase
> rated system voltage
> maximum system operating voltage
> rated current
> maximum continuous current

The zero sequence reactance (X0) depends on the winding

connection and grounding of the shunt reactor. For air-core drytype units, it can be calculated as follow:

Inserting shunt reactors at the receiving ending, the ABCD

parameters of the line are changed, as described below:

> Wye connection with neutral

directly grounded
> Wye connection with neutral
grounded through a reactor

> Wye connection with neutral

ungrounded

So, the relation between the ending voltages of the transmission

line is given by:

> Delta connection

Neutral reactors generally are used in shunt reactors installed in

transmission line terminations to provide a faster extinguishing of
the secondary arc current and, therefore, to allow the automatic
reclosing of the transmission line after a fault elimination
(typically, the reclosing time varies from 0.5 to 1.5 seconds).

OPEN-CIRCUIT OPERATION OF RADIAL

TRANSMISSION LINES
The operation of a lossless radial transmission line, which is
energized by a generator at the sending ending (V1) and is opencircuited at the receiving ending (V2), can be represented in the
matrix form by the ABCD parameters, where I2 = 0.

Application Example
Consider a lossless radial transmission line, frequency 60 Hz,
length = 350 km, and parameters z = j 0,32886 /km and bC =
j 5,097 S/km. To estimate the reactive power of shunt reactors
to be installed in the transmission line to provide a maximum
operating voltage of 1.05 pu at the open-circuited terminal
(receiving ending), when the line is energized with 1.0 pu in the
sending ending.
Solution:
> Total impedance and admittance of the non-compensated
transmission line

> Parameter A:

reactor to provide a required voltage variation in the busbar

can calculated through the short-circuit power of system at the
busbar where the reactor will be connected.

S CC

V2

> Operating voltage at the receiving ending of the noncompensated transmission line

V1

> Calculation of the shunt reactor reactance:

Picture 3 Practical circuit for voltage control analysis

The shunt reactor rating is given by:

Application Example

> Calculation of the three-phase reactive power of the shunt

reactor:

To estimate the reactive power of shunt reactors to installed in

the 34.5 kV busbar in order to reduce the voltage level from 1.02
to 0.99 pu, considering a fault current of 25 kA (or short-circuit
power of 1495 MVA).
Solution:

MVAr

> Calculation of the three-phase reactive power of the shunt reactor:

MVAr
> Calculation of the compensation degree of the transmission line:
In order to make possible line energization on both sides, it is
recommended to install shunt reactors with similar ratings in their
two terminations.
> The line charging of the transmission line is:

Remark:
> In the analysis above, it is not considered the on tap changer
(OLTC) operation of power transformers near to the point
of connection of the shunt reactors, which occurs in a few
minutes after the shunt reactor switching.

MVAr
CONCLUSIONS
So, compensation degree is:

BUSBAR VOLTAGE VARIATION AFTER

SWITCHING OF SHUNT REACTORS
Typically, the voltage variation at the high voltage busbar after
switching of a shunt reactor shall not be higher than 2 to 3% of
rated voltage. A practical circuit is used to simplify the analysis
of voltage control (see picture 3). The determination of the shunt

AREVA T&D Worldwide Contact Centre:

www.areva-td.com/contactcentre/
Tel. : +44 (0) 1785 250 070
www.areva-td.com

AREVA T&D is able to supply air-core shunt reactors to provide

reactive power compensation for electrical systems with rated
voltages up to 72,5 kV and three-phase ratings up to 100 MVAr.
AREVA T&Ds air-core shunt reactors are maintenance free,
environmentally friendly and maintain a conservative temperature
rise offering an extended service life.
To request technical information, please contact us by e-mail:
aircorereactors.itr@areva-td.com

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