Cost savings in nuclear power generating stations by power factor improvement

Abstract

A shortage of natural resources coupled with high oil prices leads people to be frugal in terms of living costs as well as energy costs in South Korea. Furthermore, de facto competition in the generation sector of the electricity industry exists now that the generation business of KEPCO has been spun off into six power generation subsidiaries. KHNP, generating 38.6 % of the total electricity, is felt keenly when it comes to efficient use of electricity with cost savings. A power factor improvement was proposed as a method for efficient use of electricity with cost savings. The power factor of nuclear power generating stations is about 80%, and this power factor improvement is useful in the situation of a low power factor for efficient use of electricity with cost savings. In this paper, the analyses of economical efficiency and performance were implemented when a synchronous condenser was used for a power factor improvement. For economical efficiency, a break-even analysis was used. In order to obtain capital investment for a synchronous condenser, the parameters in Wolsong #2, namely power supplied from the grid with the present power factor were investigated. Based on the investigated values, the cost of a synchronous condenser was calculated. Additionally, cost savings, when the power factor was improved to 95%, were calculated in electric billing. The payback period was also calculated using these expenses. The results of the study show that installing a synchronous condenser to effect a power factor improvement can result in a reduction of costs in nuclear power plants. An analysis of performance for the synchronous condenser was implemented using ETAP developed by Operation Technology Incorporated. Four items were simulated using the analysis functions of ETAP. They were the load flow analysis, the harmonic analysis, the short-circuit analysis, and the bus transfer analysis. Conclusively, installing a synchronous condenser for the power factor improvement...