A Methodology for Reactor Placement in Subtransmission Networks

In the last years, the penetration of not controllable power plants, the decommissioning of large conventional plants, the wide deployment of cable lines in urban areas and the nearunity power factor of the most recent appliances have contributed to significantly increase the capacitive reactive power absorbed by subtransmission and distribution networks. Network operators are facing these new trends on reactive power flows which cause voltage and reactive power balance issues not only on the subtransmission and distribution networks but also on the transmission network. This paper presents a methodology for placing and sizing shunt reactors when coordinated activities between operators are needed. The results, collected applying the methodology on a real large SN, show that by using only SRs the issues related to mentioned voltage and reactive power flows can be effectively mitigate.