Long-term analysis of industrial reactive power potentials with consideration of plant-internal grid restrictions using the example of an industrial plant in a distribution grid

Abstract:
Since conventional generation plants provide a considerable share of reactive power but are gradually being shut down due to energy transition, leading to power deficits at the transmission grid level, new concepts for the supply of reactive power must be developed. As one possibility for the latter, industrial plants in the distribution grid are considered suitable, as their reactive power potentials can contribute to voltage maintenance and thus to a grid- or system-serving behavior. In this paper, the determination of reactive power potentials provided by industrial compensation systems (ICS) is presented. An industrial plant in the medium voltage grid, with three installed ICSs, is investigated. The potentials are determined and described based on their time characteristics, which provide information about the occurrence and distribution of inductive and capacitive potentials. A grid simulation of the investigated industrial grid is used to analyze the effects of retrieving the reactive power potentials regarding equipment utilizations and voltage limits.