No penalties for reactive power:First active STATCOM compensation on the Bánovce nad Ondavou – Humenné line

During the electrification of the Bánovce nad Ondavou – Humenné line, new container traction substations were built. Long 22 kV cable feeders from the Humenné and Michalovce electrical stations supply capacitive reactive energy into the grid — the billing meters at the stations measure it, and ŽSR pays for it. At the same time, the substation left no room for conventional static reactors.

Instead of stepped static compensation, we deployed NEXICONTROL 400 050 COMP active compensators in STATCOM mode. They connect to the LV side of the auxiliary-supply transformers, operate in parallel, and a shared control system evaluates the required reactive power from measurements on the 22 kV bays. Control is continuous and bidirectional, with real-time monitoring, web visualization and remote supervision. The IP55-rated units are installed outdoors, with no demands on space inside the switchroom.

After fine-tuning, the capacitive supply dropped from the original ~27–30 kVAr per feeder to under 2 kVAr. This was the first active STATCOM compensation deployed on this ŽSR line.