Interactive Power Factor Management With Incentives Toward Reduction in Fuel Consumption and Carbon Emission

Reducing costs, emissions, and improving efficiency in the electric power networks are becoming urgent. It is, therefore, necessary to apply improvements in the industry's operation, for example maintaining acceptable consumer's operational PF (PFopr) gauged against reference PF (PFref), where penalties are levied on monthly averaged PFopr below PFref. The efforts can be enhanced if based on interactive involvement and participation between consumers and services providers (SP's), mainly by fair implementation of penalties and incentives. Enticing consumer participation enables mutual benefits. The current treatment of PF in Saudi Arabia is based on average monthly measurements of consumers' PFopr. In this spirit, a novel mathematical model and framework are presented which consist of a time-referenced function relating applicable tariff to PFopr, thus benefiting SPs by reducing capital and maintenance costs, providing flexibility to focus on peak load periods, and rewarding incentives to the consumers maintaining PF in an acceptable range. The model was implemented on measurements at four industrial facilities in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia for one year and the results were verified in terms of reduction in network's heat losses, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, and the resulting monetary benefits.

Automated summary

Reducing costs, emissions, and improving efficiency in electric power networks is crucial. Through improvements in the industry's operation and fostering interactive participation between consumers and service providers, mutual benefits can be achieved by reducing heat losses, CO2 emissions, and fuel consumption.