Current issues in reactive power management: A critical overview

This paper reviews specific issues and challenges in reactive power management within the competitive electricity market context and increasing requirements of system security. The basic aspects refer to the specific constraints introduced by the capability curves of the generating units, the notion of opportunity costs and the questionable role of obligation to serve concerns. Other key issues are related to the responsibilities of the grid operator in transmission networks, the mechanisms for reactive power procurement with critical concerns about the use of optimization procedures, the importance of obtaining meaningful indicators and suitable sensitivity information to characterize the power system operation, and the needs for developing specific calculations based on the value of reactive support during normal operation and in dynamic conditions.