Detrimental effects of capacitors in distribution networks in the presence of harmonic pollution

The main goal of this paper is to analyze the behavior of an electric power network in the presence of harmonic distortion, when capacitors are installed. The work starts from a case study, where failure and malfunctioning of an industrial plant are described with the help of experimental measurements. The theoretical and mathematical details of the phenomena involved are analyzed by suitable computer simulations. The study is performed by considering some important electrical quantities, evaluated according to the definitions proposed by the standard IEEE 1459. The results put in evidence that using some typical quantities, such as the power factor, could lead to ambiguous conclusions in evaluating the actual quality of the loads, and this can assume special importance in virtue of the economic relevance of such quantities.