The main advantage of synchronous motor is that it can operate at a wide range of power factors i.e.

, lagging or leading or unity. A synchronous motor under over excited condition at no load acts as synchronous condenser and operates at leading power factor. In an electrical system, when synchronous condenser is operated in parallel with the other loads having lagging power factor, the synchronous condenser (which delivers leading reactive power) compensates lagging reactive power of the load or the system and improves the overall power factor of the system which can be seen from the phasor diagram shown in figure.

In the figure,

v=supply voltage IL=Industrial load current L=Load power factor angle IM=current drawn by the synchronous condenser M=synchronous condenser power factor angle I= Resultant current =Resultant or improved power factor angle

Initially, without synchronous condenser, the load current (IL) lags behind the voltage (V) by an angle of L.After the introduction of synchronous condenser in system parallel with existing load, the power factor of overall system increases to cos because the synchronous condenser current leads the supply voltage. Hence by the use of synchronous condenser, the overall power factor of the system can be improved. Some of advantages and disadvantages of synchronous condenser are listed below.

Advantages:
The current drawn by motor can be varied to any extent by varying the field excitation of condenser,by which the step less control of power factor can be achieved. When compared to synchronous motor,