The Impact of LED Lighting Systems to the Power Quality and Recommendations for Installation Methods to Achieve the Expected Energy Efficiency

The experimental study of the lighting system influence on the power quality has been performed. The effect of the fluorescent tube lights (FTL) with magnetic and electronic ballasts as well as the LED lights from four companies are compared. It is very usual to replace only the FTL tube to LED tube without removing the additional capacitors. According to the presented results, the expected increase in energy efficiency and power quality is not achieved. The produced reactive power is significant with the defective replacement practice. The issue is accelerated with the continuous reduction of inductive loads and the increase of the capacitive reactive power production. When replacing old FTLs with LEDs, the protection and the start-up transient must to be considered. The protection device may require update, for example slower circuit breaker. If no updates for the supply side are made, there may be a need to reduce the amount of lights when FTLs are replaced with LEDs. According to the measurements, LEDs are remarkable factor in the change of capacitive reactive power production. In the future, there should be more detailed instructions and requirements for the lighting system renovation. For example, the installation instructions should include the removal of the capacitors. However, electromagnetic compatibility of the modified lighting equipment cannot be ensured straightforwardly. The best practice for lighting update is to change the whole luminaire. At the moment, this is the only way to ensure the designed operation.