Systems and Methods of Dynamic Reactive Support for a Power Transmission System

A system for supplying supplemental reactive power to a transmission system comprising:

• at least one circuit breaker connecting a shunt capacitor bank containing at least one shunt capacitor and at least one metal oxide varistor (MOV) connected in parallel;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• detect a voltage drop on a power transmission system;
• in response to detecting the voltage drop, close the at least one circuit breaker, wherein closing the at least one circuit breaker connects the at least one shunt capacitor to the power transmission system;
• detect a current flow in the at least one MOV;
• and
• upon detection of a current flow in the at least one MOV, disconnecting the at least one shunt capacitor from the power transmission system.

A method for supplying supplemental reactive power to a power transmission system comprising:

• detecting a voltage drop on a power transmission system;
• in response to detecting the voltage drop, connecting a plurality of shunt capacitors to the power transmission system, wherein a first portion of the plurality of shunt capacitors are directly connected to the power transmission system and a second portion of the plurality of shunt capacitors are each connected to the power transmission system with a metal oxide varistor (MOV) connected in parallel;
• detecting a current flow in at least one of the MOVs;
• and
• upon detection of a current flow in the at least one of the MOVs, disconnecting at least the second portion of the plurality of shunt capacitors from the power transmission system.