What is Capacitor Bank Panel?

A capacitor bank panel (compensation panel) is the electrical panel housing stepped capacitor groups, contactors and a reactive power relay to supply a facility's reactive power locally. The aim is to reduce the reactive power drawn from the grid, raise the power factor and prevent reactive penalties.

The reactive power relay inside the panel measures the facility's instantaneous load and engages or disengages the appropriate number of capacitor steps. As load rises, steps are added; as it falls, they are removed. This dynamic control avoids both inductive and capacitive penalties. In high-harmonic environments, a reactor (shunt reactor) is added to the panel for detuned (filtered) compensation.

The health of a compensation panel degrades over time: capacitors lose capacity, contactors wear, relay settings drift. So the panel cannot be installed and forgotten; step health, power factor and reactive consumption must be monitored continuously. SolarTools tracks the state of each step and the panel's performance in real time.