Shunt capacitor bank: Transient issues and analytical solutions

Abstract Medium voltage shunt capacitor banks (SCBs) are widely used for improving voltage profile and providing reactive power in electrical networks. Transient oscillations caused by SCBs, e.g., switching and self-excitation phenomena, may damage sensitive equipment in electrical networks. This paper provides an analytical description of the SCB transients and proposes efficient techniques to limit such transients, which include (i) determining the proper size of the SCB to minimum the risk of the self-excitation, (ii) detecting and preventing the SCB self-excitation using a novel protection scheme, and (iii) limiting the SCB switching transients by developing some approaches for medium voltage application. The proposed strategies for limiting SCB transients are verified using comprehensive simulation studies conducted on an actual power system.