Power quality enhancement by SiC Active Power Filters in Oil and Gas Platforms

Abstract

This paper presents a study for active power filters’ (APFs) application in a typical offshore O&G platform, where reactive power compensation and current harmonic mitigation are often needed to meet minimum power quality requirements. As size and weight are critical constraints in offshore installations, possible benefits of using Silicon Carbide (SiC) switches for the APF implementation are also investigated. Different compensation strategies have been compared, varying the connection point of the APF between two different voltage levels and assigning the APFs different compensation targets. Improvements in Power Quality (PQ) indexes as well as APFs rating, efficiency and design complexity have been considered for both SiC and Silicon-based solutions to identify trade-offs suitable for the considered application.