ANALYSIS OF ELECTRIC ENERGY BILLING OF PROSUMERS CONSIDERING THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE POWER FACTOR OF PHOTOVOLTAIC INVERTERS
The term prosumer is used to refer to agents that consume and produce their energy and may have a more active role in the operation and planning of electricity distribution networks. However, this class of agent is exposed to the same obligations as other consumers connected to medium-voltage grids. For example, maintaining a power factor at the point of connection to the main grid within the ranges of values required by the utilities. In this sense, an adequate adjustment of the power factor of your photovoltaic inverters can avoid penalties and consequently minimize the amounts paid with their electricity bill. Given this, this work analyzes the adjustment of the power factor of prosumer's photovoltaic inverters, avoiding additional costs due to penalties for reactive surplus. For this analysis two optimization techniques were used: The Fibonacci search algorithm and the Flower pollination algorithm, which presented satisfactory results in the solution of the problem, reducing the charges for low power factor by an average of 80,1% along the year. Adjusting the power factor of prosumers' PV inverters can reduce low power factor penalties. However, the results show that the cost of penalties for prosumers is low compared to the costs that distribution companies may have with low power factor penalties in the border area or in investments in reactive power compensation equipment.