EET 3413: Power System II

Class Notes

Lecture 1

Lecturer: George Komen

Course Overview
Aim:
• Enable the student to show understanding in the economics of power
generation and apply regulatory policies in electrical energy

Expected Learning outcomes

1. Estimate the cost of power generation
2. Apply energy regulatory policies and aspects concerning energy
3. Define a transmission system and the components used
Course Description
• Power Factor:
• Power triangle,
• Disadvantage of low power factor
• Power factor improvement
• Calculations of power factor correction
• Economics Power Factor:
• Economics of power generation
• Cost of Power Generation
• Fixed cost
• Semi-fixed cost and running cost
• Expression of cost of electrical energy
• Determining depreciation
• Importance of high load factor
• Tariff
• Energy management
• Energy conservation
• Energy audit
• Environmental, economic and social impacts of energy development
• Introduction to Power Transmission
• Electric supply system (AC & DC)
• High transmission voltage
• Power transmission system – overhead system
• Elements of Power Transmission line
• Conductors, transformers, line insulators, support, protective devices, & voltage regulating device
Course Assessment
Type Weighting (%)

Examination 60
CATs (at least 2 sit-in CATs) 10
Practical 25
Assignment 5
Total 100

Core Reading Materials

1. J.D. Glover, M.S. Sama, and T.J. Overbye, “Power Systems Analysis and Design”, 5th ed.,
Thompson-Engineering.
2. John J. Grainger, William D. Stevenson, Jr,” Power System Analysis design”.
3. P.S R Murty, “Power System Analysis”
4. V. K. Mehta, “Principle of Power System”
Power Factor

• Recap
• Load type:
• Resistive load – consumes active power (lights and heaters,
electric coils)
• Inductive load: consumes only reactive power (electric motor,
fans and washing machine) – current lags behind the voltage
• Capacitive load: [similar to inductive but for capacitive loads,
current leads the voltage by 90 deg – current leads the voltage
• Most loads are inductive in nature hence have low lagging
current
• Power factor: cosine of angle between voltage and current in
an a.c circuit
• In ac circuit, there is a phase
difference φ between voltage and
current
• If the circuit is inductive, the
current lags behind the voltage
and the pf is referred to as lagging
• In capacitive circuit, current leads
the voltage and pf is referred to as
leading
Power triangle
Beer glass analogy
• The beer has some froth top that does
nothing to quench the individual’s thirst –
this represents KVAr (reactive power).
• The beer does quench the thirst – this
represents the kW (real power).
• The total contents of the mug (the beer
and the froth) represent the KVA or
apparent power.

• Active power – is the type of power that is

actually being used (VIcos φ). Measured in watts
(W)
• Reactive Power – is power that is stored but
released back into the source (VIsin φ). Has the
units of Volts-Ampere-Reactive
• Apparent Power – depicts the entire circuits total
power (VI) and has units of Volt-Amperes (VA)
• Consider an inductive circuit taking a lagging current I from supply
voltage V; the angle of lag being φ
• Hence, the phasor diagram is given by:

• NB:
• Components I cosφ is active power
• Whereas I sinφ is reactive power
• Reactive component is a measure of pf – a small reactive component
indicate a small φ angle and hence pf (cos φ) would be high
• Therefore, a circuit with small reactive current (I sinφ) will have high
pf and vice versa.
• Max pf is unity (1) – reactive (resistive) circuit
Let consider triangle OAB shown below:
A.C. through Resistance and inductance
• Figure has pure resistance R and
a pure inductive coil of
inductance L connected in series
• Voltage V and resultant current I
• Voltage drop across R: Vr = IR
• Voltage drop across coil: Vcoil =
IXcoil
• Therefore, pf can be defined as:

Illustration I
• Suppose a circuit draws a current of 10 A at a voltage of 200 V and its pf =
0.8 lagging. Then
• Apparent power = VI = 200*10 = 2kVA
• Active power = VI cos φ = 200 * 10* 0.8 = 1.6kW
• Reactive power = VI sin φ = 200 * 10 * 0.6 = 1.2kVAR
Example
• Suppose a circuit draws a current of 1000 A at a voltage of 20,000 V
and has a pf of 0.8. Then
Apparent power = VI = 1000* 20000 = 20,000 kVA
Cosφ = 0.8, then φ = 36.87 deg, and sin φ = 0.6

Hence:
Active power = VI * cos φ = 20,000 * 0.8 = 16,000 kW
&
Reactive power = VI sin φ = 20,000 * 0.6 = 12,000 kVAR
Causes of Low pf

i. Most of the a.c. motors are induction type – which have low lagging
pf. Motors work at a very low pf (0.2 – 0.3) rising to (0.8 – 0.9) at
full load
ii. Arc lamps, electric discharge lamps and industrial heating furnances
operate at low lagging pf
iii. Varying load in the power system: during low load period, supply
voltage is increased which increases the magnetisation current – this
results in the decreased pf
Disadvantage of Low pf
• As seen pf plays an important role in a.c. circuits

• The load current is inversely proportional to the pf

• Lower the pf, the higher the load current and vice-versa
• Hence, power consumed depends on pf factor
• Therefore, pf has the following disadvantages
1. Large kVA rating of equipment – kVA rating of the equipment is inversely prop. to pf

Low pf means kVA rating of an equipment has to be more – making equipment larger and
expensive
Example of equipment – alternators, transformers, and switchgear
 2. Greater conductor size:
From equation (i) and (ii) above, transmitting fixed amount of power at contant voltage, the conductor
has to carry more current at low pf
Hence, it will need a large conductor size
Example:
Single phase a.c. motor having an input of 10W on full load, the terminal voltage being 250 V.
At unity pf (1), the input full load current would by 10,000/250 = 40A
At 0.8 pf, the kVA input would by 10/0.8 = 12.5 kVA [pf = kW/kVA], and the current input 12,500/250 = 50A
Hence, working at 0.8 pf, the cross-sectional area of the supply cables would be based on 50A instead of 40A

3. Large copper losses

The large current at low pf causes more I2R losses in the elements od the supply system – causing low
eff.

4. Poor voltage regulation:

The large current at low pf lagging causes greater voltage drops in alternators, transformers,
transmission lines and distributors – this causes decreased voltage available at the supply end. To
counter this, additional equipment such as voltage regulators is required to keep the receiving end
voltage within permissible limits

5. Reduced handling capacity of system

Lagging pf reduces the handling capacity of all elements of the system. Reactive current element
prevents the full utilisation of installed capacity