Gene Fuller wrote:
"You know exactly what capacitors are for, and it isn`t to control
transmission line reflections from open ends of the line."

When you open a circuit at an instant when current is flowing, the
transient created can be large. Natural phenomena also create injurious
spikes on a power line. Capacitors absorb transient current reducing and
delaying a voltage rise which gives overvoltage protection a chance to
operate.

Lightly loaded induction motors cause power factor to lag, demanding
additional current. Capacitors to correct large amounts of lagging
current often take the form of over-excited unloaded induction machines
(rotory capacitors) which produce an offsetting leading power factor.

Power loss in power lines is proportional to the square of the current,
whatever the cause, so power factor correction aims at to reduce current
in the line.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, Kb5WZI