Volt-ampere Reactive

In electric power transmission and distribution, volt-ampere reactive (var) is a unit used to measure reactive power in an AC electric power system. Reactive power exists in an AC circuit when the current and voltage are not changing at the same time. The correct symbol is var and not Var, VAr, or VAR, but all three terms are widely used. The term var was proposed by the Romanian electrical engineer Constantin Budeanu and introduced in 1930 by the IEC in Stockholm, which has adopted it as the unit for reactive power.

Vars may be considered as either the imaginary part of apparent power, or the power flowing into a reactive load, where voltage and current are specified in volts and amperes. The two definitions are equivalent.

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