How do KVAR solutions save money? (long technical answer)

Here is the technical explanation or how the KVAR technology saves you money on your utility
bill.  All induction loads require two types of power, one is KVAR, referred to as reactive power
and the other is KW referred to as working power.  The combination of KVAR and KW make up
KVA, referred to as apparent power.  The relationship between the three is explained in the
attached power point presentation.  KVA is what the utility company charges you for.  Induction
loads require KVAR to establish the EMF (electromagnetic field) around the induction windings.  
The EMF provides the torque necessary to turn the motor shaft.  Without KVAR (reactive power)
the motor would not run.  Only after you have established the EMF around the motor induction
windings will the motor shaft then turn.  The power that is used to turn the shaft on a motor which
turns pump impellers or fan blades etc. is called the working power or KW.  By implementing the
KVAR technology or custom sized capacitors to individual induction loads you are providing the
necessary KVAR for that load and therefore the power you buy from your utility company is
mostly KW, working power.  I have worked in power plant control rooms where we have to
increase KVAR’S because there is customer demand.  And as a result we increase the KVAR’s to
deliver to the customer and the customer pays for KVAR’s as well as KW.   

You can see the proof of this in several ways. You can compare last years bill in one month
without KVAR to this year’s bill in the same month with KVAR installed.  This is the proof that you
are paying for both KVAR and KW and by implementing the KVAR technology you will be paying
for KW therefore reducing your energy consumption from the utility plant and in turn your utility
bill.   

Induction loads require KVARs to run and requires KW to turn the motor shaft, the difference is
that the KVAR technology provides the KVAR’s locally to the motor so that most of the power
pulled from the utility company is KW, working power.  We have several large corporation we are
working with, if any of your customers would like to talk to my customers I would be glad to give
them names and numbers to call so they can hear it for themselves.   

Let me take a moment to explain power factor.  Power factor is a measurement of how efficiently
power is used by a load.  This is also explained mathematically in the attached power point
presentation.  Power factor is equal to the ratio between KW (working power) and KVAR (reactive
power).  It is represented like this:

PF= kw / KVAR  (power factor is equal to KW divided by KVAR)

Some large customers are charged power factor penalties by the power utility companies if their
power factor drops below a certain number.  If the power utility company did not measure or
charge you for delivering KVAR then how can they panelize these large companies for it?  The
answer is the power utility company does deliver KVAR to their customers and they charge all
their customers for this service.  Only some large companies get charged an additional charge
called power factor penalties if their power factor drops below a certain point.  All customers pay
for KVARs.     

So what is power factor?  Let’s say that we measure the power factor on a load and it measures
70% or .70.  Based on the formula above, that means that 70% of the power that the motor is
pulling is being used to do work like turn a pump or fan, represented by KW (working power) and
the other 30% of the power that is being pulled from the utility power company is being used to
establish the EMF around the motor windings called KVAR (reactive power).  The reason we say
that this motor is 70% efficient is because only 70% is being used to produce an output like
turning a fan or pump.  The other 30%, which is being used to establish the EMF around the
motor windings, is not producing any output or work for you, but you are paying for it.  KVARs are
a necessity for all induction loads but they do not produce any work and therefore power factor
measures how much of the power you use from the utility company is used to produce work or an
output and how much is used to establish the EMF around the induction windings.   

The KVARs needed for an induction motor is the same whether the motor is loaded or not so
when a motor is not loaded the power factor is low and as the motor load increases the power
factor improves.  Let’s look at this a little closer.  Power factor is the ratio of KW divided by KVAR.  
Let’s remember that the required KVARs for a motor are the same whether it is unloaded or
loaded.  So when a motor in unloaded it is basically running or free wheeling but not turning a fan
or pump and therefore it is not pulling a lot of KW (working power) because it is not doing much
work.  In this example the power factor will be low because KVARs will be higher than KW and
the ratio between the two make up power factor.  Now let’s take the same example except this
time the motor is loaded.  When the motor is turning a load it will have to pull more power to turn
that load so it is now pulling more KW’s (working power).  As KW goes up and KVAR does not
change the power factor goes up as well.  That is the reason a loaded motor has a better power
factor than an unloaded motor but that does not changed the fact that the motor still has the same
requirements for KVARs to establish the EMF in order to turn the motor shaft and produce an
output.        

When power factor goes up, amps and KVAR goes down.  This is partially true.  We are going to
look at two examples one where you have not installed the KVAR technology and the other where
you have installed the KVAR technology.  First we will look at an example where you have not
installed the KVAR technology.  As in the example above the KVARs required to run the induction
load does not change so you would have to load the motor and increase KW to improve power
factor.  So in this case KW went up in order for the power factor to go up.  Now let’s assume that
the KVAR technology is installed.  Run the motor and measure the power factor downstream of
the KVAR unit and upstream of the KVAR unit.  You will find that the power factor upstream of the
KVAR unit is close to unity or 100% power factor and the power factor downstream of the KVAR
unit is the same as it is if the KVAR unit was not installed.  The reason being is when you
measure power factor upstream of the KVAR unit and it is measuring close to 100% without
having to increase KW means that you are pulling only KW from the utility and not KVAR and
therefore power factor is equal to KW.  The KVAR (reactive power) required to run that motor is
delivered to the motor by the KVAR unit and not the utility company.