Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

A PQ Case Study
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Reduction in kVAhBilling through Harmonic Mitigation

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Case study 49
Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation
49
Abstract:
Conventional definition of electrical
engineering terminology, which were as
per linear load scenario are changing now
with more non linear loads being used by
electricity consumers. Conventional terms
like resistance, which was measured as DC
resistance and normalized for 50 Hz needs
to be re-looked again as in the cables,
apart from fundamental current of 50Hz,
other frequencies of currents are also
present withconsiderable amplitude.
Power factor, which was earlier measured
as cosine of angle between current and
voltage is now re-defined as true power
factor where multiplication factor with
distortion factor due to harmonics is also
added.
For demand or kVA, which was calculated
based on power triangle where two legs
used to represent reactive power (kVAr)
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and active power (kW) and hypotenuse
used to represent apparent power or
demand (kVA). This definition holds true
for linear loads or where current and
voltage waveforms are sinusoidal.
A power system, where loads are
dominated by non linear loads, presence
of harmonics generally will be
considerable. Under such environment, a
conventional power triangle will not give
correct apparent power as there will be
presence of other harmonic current and
voltage in the system that will add to the
apparent power.
There are utilities who are billing to their
consumers on kVAh basis instead of kWh
basis. The customer must keep in mind that if
utility is billing on kVAh basis , he is essentially
charging for poor power factor often
impacted by presence of heavy reactive load
as well as non linear loads causing severe
harmonic distortion. So addressing reactive
load demand by reactive compensation in
linaer load environment or harmonic filtering
in non linear load environment are the best
ways to reduce your energy bill whether
charged on two part basis including power
factor penalty or single part kVAh basis
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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

This case study presents a case study for a consumption resulting in reduced
plant who are billed on kVAh basis and operating cost. Apart from reduced
having considerable share of non linear operating cost they alsohave increased
load. By reducing harmonics in the reliability of system and reduced failure.
system, the plant has reduced their kVAh

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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Introduction
With linear load, apparent power is represented by power triangle as explained in figure -1.

Fig – 1 Conventional Power Triangle

As per power triangle, base of the triangle represent real power – kW (P), perpendicular
represents reactive power – kVAr (Q) and hypotenuse represents apparent power – kVA (S).
Power factor is defined as angle between apparent power and real power. This power
triangle holds true for all type of linear loads without any harmonic component in the
system.

If major load in a power system or consumer end has non-linear component, then
harmonics, i.e current harmonics and voltage harmonics will be present in the system.
Presence of harmonics in the system distorts the waveform and current or voltage
waveform will no longer be a sinusoidal waveform. In harmonic rich environment, apparent
power for fundamental component (50 Hz current and voltage) and harmonic component
need to be calculated separately and added.

Under harmonic rich environement, power triangle is no longer a two dimensional diagram
but a three dimensional.

Figure – 2 below shows power triangle in harmonic environment as per IEEE:1459/2010.

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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Fig –2 Power Triangle in Harmonic rich environment

In figure – 2, in addition to reactive power and active power, two more components are
added which are harmonic reactive power Q1 and distortion reactive power DH. Apparent
power is vector addition of all these components.

As seen above with presence of harmonic in system, apparent power will be different when
calculated with normal power triangle and as defined in IEEE: 1459/2010. Apparent power
will be definitely more in a case when harmonics are present in the system as compared to
the scenario when there are minimum or no harmonics in the system keeping the active
power same.

For the electricity consumers where they are charged based on kVAh basis, it is very
important for them to keep apparent power as close as to active power. One of the
conventional way to keep apparent power close to active power is to install capacitor bank
with auto atic power factor co troller APFC . APFC’s will keep the power factor u ity or
close to unity. However power system where harmonics are more, even after adding APFC
system, there is considerable difference in active power and apparent power. Consumers
have even installed detuned capacitor banks, but this also did not resolve the issue of gap in
active and apparent power. As the increases apparent power is due to harmonics, the gap
between active and apparent power will not come down unless harmonics in the system are
addressed.

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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Background
The case study involves one of the leading FMCG plant located in Andhra Pradesh. The plant
receives power from Andhra Pradesh Generation Company (APGENCO) at 33kV voltage. The
pla t was co issio ed i the year with o’s of kVA, / . kV transformers
operating in parallel. The plant was billed on kVAh basis. As the billing was in kVAh, plant
installed 2 nos detuned APFC panels each of 1500 kVAr. Purpose of the APFC panel was to
keep active power and apparent power close to each other.

Even after installing APFC with detuned capacitor banks, the unit reported a difference of
15000 to 18000 units between kWH and kVAH recorded by the trivector meter on a monthly
basis. Apart from difference in active energy and apparent energy, Failures of PCB in the
machine panels were also rampant with minimum 1 PCB failure every month per machine.
There were also complaints of humming noise from the transformers and incidence of
busbar vibrations. Figure – 3 below shows simplified single line diagram of the plant.

Fig – 3 Simplified Single Line Diagram

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Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Chillers are one of the major load at the plant and equipped with VFD. There are four
chillers with total capacity 850 TR. Apart from chillers, process load is mainly controlled
through PLC’s. APFC pa els are o’s a d each co tai s kVAr detu ed capacitor bank.

Plant has installed detuned capacitor banks to mitigate harmonics.

In order to identify the cause of difference in apparent (kVAh) and active (kWh) energy, the
plant conducted a detailed study along with harmonics analysis.

Study Summary:
One of the component of detailed study was harmonic and during the study it was identified
that harmonic component in the system were very high.

Table – 1 below shows harmonic measurement summary at the plant.

Table – 1 Summary of harmonic measurements

As seen from the table, measurement were carried out with and without capacitor bank. As
seen from the table – 1, although there is some difference in current harmonics with
capacitors ON and OFF condition, it is not alarmingly high. Function of detuned capacitor
banks is to avoid amplification of harmonics, but it does not filter out system harmonics.

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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Figure – 4 shows harmonics recorded at the plant main incomer.

Figure – 4 Voltage and Current total harmonic distortion percentage

At the main ACB incomer the I-THD% touched a peak of 28.8% in one of the phases, while
the U-THD% recorded a peak of 6.3%. The corresponding window average values were
19.4% and 3.9% respectively.

Figure – 5 shows the energy consumption plot measured at the main incomer.

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Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Figure – 5 Energy Consumption

Based on the 24 hours data recording, energy consumption for the year was extrapolated as
shown in table – 2.

kVAh kWh Difference Difference for a Difference Increase in electricity bill

per day per day per day month ( 25 days) per year @ 6.32 per kVAh
27310 26700 610 15250 183000 1156560
Table - 2 Difference in apparent and active power

Based on the harmonic levels and power triangle, plant decided to install harmonic filters at
the plant. The plant installed filters at main incomer, chillers and process panels.

Rating of harmonic filter installed at the plant is as per table - 3

Location Filter rating No of filters

Main incomer 300 A 2
Chillers 60 A 4
Process MDB 60 A 10
Table - 2 Difference in apparent and active power

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Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Post Implementation Results:

After installation of filter, the plant team carried out harmonic measurement along with
energy consumption study. Figure – 6 shows harmonic profile at the main incomer.

Figure – 6 Harmonic profile after installing filter

At the main ACB incomer the I-THD% touched a peak of 4.9% in one of the phases, while the
U-THD% recorded a peak of 1.8%. The corresponding window average values were 3.6% and
1.8% respectively. This shows that total harmonic distortion percentage has come down
significantly. Table – 3 shows comparison of harmonics at main incomer before and after
mitigation of harmonics.

Measured parameter Before After

Ithd % - Maximum 28.8 4.9
Ithd % - Average 19.4 3.6
Uthd% - Maximum 6.3 1.8
Uthd%-Minimum 3.9 1.8
Table – 3 Harmonic values before and after adopting mitigation technique

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Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Figure – 7 shows energy profile for the same period.

Figure – 7 Energy profile after installation of harmonic filter

Based on the 24 hours data recording, energy consumption for the year was extrapolated as
shown in table – 3.

kVAh kWh Difference Difference for a Difference Increase in electricity bill

per day per day per day month ( 25 days) per year @ 6.32 per kVAh
28570 28420 150 3750 45000 284400
Table - 4 Difference in apparent and active power post harmonic mitigation

Table – 4 shows comparison of active and apparent energy pre and post mitigation of
harmonics.

kVAh kWh Difference Difference for a Difference Increase in bill

Scenerio per day per day per day month ( 25 days) per year @ 6.32/kVAh
Before
harmonic
mitigation 27310 26700 610 15250 183000 1156560
After
harmonic
mitigation 28570 28420 150 3750 45000 284400
As seen from the table, there is drop in electricity bill by INR 8.72 lakhs per year.

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Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Apart from reduction in electricity bill, Theplant has also acknowledged that they have
substantial reduction in the PCB failures, up to an extent of 80% from the previous levels of
failures and machine tripping. The humming noise from the transformer and the vibration
from the busbar section has also considerably lowered.

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Case study 49

Reduction in kVah Billing through Harmonic Mitigation

Conclusion:
From this case study, we can draw conclusions as below.

1. One of the misconceptions that is going in the market that by detuning the
capacitors, harmonics will be mitigated or filtred out. However, detuned capacitors
only avoid amplification of harmonics. They do not filter system harmonics.

2. By reducing harmonics in the system, apparent power reduces. The consumers, who
are charged on kVAh basis, can gain monetary benefits through this.

3. By mitigating harmonics in the system, reliability of the system and productivity of

the plant can be increased due to reduction in failure rate of various
equipments/components.

About the Author:

Mr. J Srinivasan
Mr. J Srinivasan has over 35years of Experience in Motor
sales, marketing, dimensioning and commissioning of
electric motor and motor system. He also has hands-on
experience in designing other motor system
components such as Drives, Starter package (IMCC, Soft
starter, DOL and Star-Delta starters etc, relays, Bearings,
power transmission elements such as belts, couplings,
fluid couplings and gears. Adequate knowledge in
vibration analysis, noise and thermal measurements and
interpretations. Exponent in the field of complete motor system management.

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of
the Asia Power Quality Initiative and /or ICA-I/ICA network. APQI and ICA network are not responsible for any use that may
be made of the information contained therein.

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