kVAr
Kilovolt-ampere reactive; the unit of reactive power and the rating of compensation capacitors.
// EXPLANATION
Capacitor banks are sized in kVAr: required kVAr = P × (tan φ1 − tan φ2). For example, raising the power factor of a 100 kW load from 0.80 to 0.95 needs about 42 kVAr of compensation.
// ALSO KNOWN AS
kVArkvar
// RELATED TERMS
Reactive powerThe power component, measured in VAr (kVAr), that is drawn from the source to build magnetic fields and returned, doing no useful work.
Reactive power compensationRaising the power factor by supplying the reactive power drawn by inductive loads locally with capacitors.
Power factorThe ratio of real power (kW) to apparent power (kVA); for sinusoidal waveforms it equals cos φ, and the closer to 1 the more efficiently the system runs.