Dear professors, colleagues, and friends:
Let us start a discussion around the concept of reactive power. I can define reactive power as the maximum instantaneous power that a reactive (capacitance or inductance) part of an element consumed. I teach it in a power system analysis course. I think we need to discuss more on this concept from a different viewpoint to learn/understand it better:
Mohammad Reza Salehizadeh , One of the textbook which I referred to understand the reactive power concept was "Reactive Power Control in Electric Systems" by Timothy J E Miller.
Reactive power is the type of power consumed by the inductive or capacitive load that is not used for any actual work or to produce any useful power. The reactive power is mainly used for magnetization.
I'm not a Power Engineer or any sort of expert on this topic, but I do deal with inductors and capacitors a lot.
And for me I always actually try to consciously avoid the word consumed with reactive power. I always go for the word stored instead.
The reason is that for ideal reactive components, as Aparna mentioned, no real heat or mechanical work generated. And in the filled of RF we can also add that no real power was also radiated. When an element acts like an Antenna there is also a real impedance part in it, hence also some Active power consumed.
For sure there are no ideal reactive components, and on top of that, there are also no lossless medium to transfer this reactive power. For example if we connect an inductor to the electrical grid, we store and return reactive power. Which will cause some real Active power to be lost in the electrical grid distribution, due to the Grid resistive losses (either heat or radiation).
1. Reactive power refers to a form of electrical power that is essential for maintaining the electrical field or magnetic field in an AC circuit, but it does not contribute to useful work. It is a necessary component in AC circuits involving inductors and capacitors, which store energy in the magnetic and electric fields.
2. Alternative definitions of reactive power include the rate at which energy is stored and discharged in a circuit's electric and magnetic fields, or the component of complex power that is not in phase with the voltage. In mechanical engineering, reactive power is akin to the energy stored in a spring, which is necessary for maintaining the system's state but does not perform any useful work.
3. Complex power, S, is typically defined first, which is a combination of reactive power, Q, and real power, P, expressed as S = P + jQ.
4. In economic systems, reactive power is equivalent to the reserves that are required to maintain the stability of the system. Just as reactive power is needed to maintain the electrical field in an AC circuit, reserves are required in economic systems to respond to changes in demand or supply.
5. Reactive power is not a reaction to any specific force or action but is instead an outcome of the properties of inductive and capacitive loads in AC circuits. The physical justification for reactive power is that when an AC voltage is applied to an inductor or capacitor, energy is stored in the magnetic or electric field, respectively, and is later released back into the circuit when the voltage polarity changes. This process of energy cycling between the circuit and the fields is the foundation of the concept of reactive power.
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