Typical saving of 8%-12% with Power Factor Correction

Useful power is the power that equipment needs to achieve the task at hand and it is measured in kW. Reactive power is drawn in addition to useful power by a reactive load and is measured in kVAR. The consumption of reactive power does not contribute to achieving the task. The useful power and the reactive power together determine the power drawn from the network, that is, the total power (also known as apparent power), measured in kVA.

Or we could say that an electrical device’s power factor is the ratio of the power that it draws from the mains supply and the power that it actually consumes. An ‘ideal’ device has a power factor of 1.0 and consumes all the power that it draws. But if it only had a power factor of 0.75 then it would need to draw 1.33 kWh for every 1 kWh required.

Having poor power factor will cause you to use more electricity (kWh), utility companies will penalise you with charges which include reactive charges, higher KvA demand charges and kWh losses.

So what is your facilities Power Factor? You should be aiming for 0.95 and above, if it is below this then SMARTech energy has a SMART solution – Power Factor Correction (PFC) which aims to bring the power factor closer to unity by reducing the effects of reactive power. In the great majority of cases, poor power factor is due to inductive loads, which can be compensated by adding electrical devices called capacitors into the circuits and will enable your business to save energy, save money and reduce your carbon emissions.

To find out more and understand how Power Factor Correction would suit your business and how much it could benefit your company, contact SMARTech energy today.