Shunt reactors and series reactors

Reactors from Siemens Energy come with benefits at various levels to help grid operators achieve and maintain a reliable and secure power supply system. For over 100 years, we have closely cooperated with energy providers and grid operators. Drawing on these decades of experience, we have tailored our processes − from consulting to design, from manufacturing to testing and after-sales services − to meet the needs of our customers and their individually customized units. Siemens Energy manufactures the full range of reactors for all customer needs in a variety of application areas. With the increase of renewable and distributed power generation reactors – and variable shunt reactors in particular – play a significant role in today’s energy landscape with its higher fluctuation in power feed-in. Reactors of Siemens Energy are compact and robust with stable performance over the complete service life. Customers can optionally choose features like low-noise/low-loss version, extended 80%-regulation range and green design options.

While fixed shunt reactors are designed for defined system condition and are cost-effective, variable shunt reactors (VSR) offer flexibility and efficiency in grids dealing with fluctuating power flows. VSRs adjust reactor power rating to actual needs, leading to lower losses and noise emissions, making them the ideal choice for networks experiencing continuous fluctuations.

The decision to opt for a fixed SHR often has technical reasons, but the - admittedly more substantial - investment in a variable shunt reactor does pay off: With increasing load fixed shunt reactors will overcompensate the voltage increase, resulting in an overall voltage drops, while variable shunt reactors always compensate accurately and adjust to the current load situation.