A vast majority of electrical loads in low industrial installations are inductive in nature. Typical examples are motors, transformers, drives, fluorescent lighting. Such loads consume both active and reactive power. The active power is used by the load to meet its real output requirements, whereas reactive power is used by the load to meet its magnetic field requirements. The flow of active and reactive power always takes place in electrical installations. This means that the supply system has to be capable of supplying both active and reactive power. It is necessary to reduce and manage the flow of reactive power to achieve higher efficiency of the electrical system and reduction in cost of electricity consumed. The most cost-effective method of reducing and managing reactive power is by power factory improvement through power capacitors. Due to the changing nature of modern electrical installations, it has now become necessary to use various types of fixes and variable power capacitors to achieve desired power factory improvement. The methodology followed to achieve a consistently high power factor under modern application conditions is referred to as "reactive power management" and, therefore, involves proper selection and use of the following products: power capacitors; automatic power factor correction systems; detuned harmonic filters; etc.
