Medium voltage capacitor discharge resistors in power factor correction

Power factor correction is a very popular and well established technique for reducing the overall energy consumption of electrical systems especially power lines, transformers, motors and other high inductive loads. In addition to reducing the energy costs and the carbon footprint, this technique reduces voltage drops, increases the service life by reducing heating and reduces losses through the Joule effect. The most common and simplest method of power factor correction is to install compensating capacitors on the network close to the load. These capacitors need to be discharged when the power is turned off if they are not to become…