Importance

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Abstract

A system and method for optimizing the costs associated with the generation and flow of reactive power in an industrial plant connected to receive power from an electrical power utility and including a plurality of electromechanical rotating machines and electrical loads connected in a network, each machine having a reactive power characteristic and an excitation element which is controllable for adjusting the reactive power generated or absorbed by the machine. Control is achieved by: creating a model of the network for providing an indication of the reactive power to be supplied by the utility in dependence on representations of selected network electrical parameters including the reactive power generated or absorbed by each machine; providing an indication of the cost associate with reactive power flow as represented by the model; providing to the model sets of representations of altered values of reactive power generated or absorbed by each machine and causing the model to produce an indication for each set of representations; determining the lowest cost indication provided after the model has provided indications relating to a plurality of different sets of representations provided to the model; and providing an indication of the control to be effected on the excitation element of each machine to produce or absorb the amount of reactive power indicated by the model with respect to the set of representations for which the lowest cost indication is produced in the determining step.

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First Claim