This paper estimates the capacity of shunt type active power filters(APF) for harmonic/reactive power compensation with a thyristor converter load. The base capacity requirement of APF is defined for idealized converter load current waveform and the effect of commutation overlap on the APF capacity is examined. The APF capacity required for reactive power compensation in addition to the harmonic elimination is estimated to give maximum achievable power factor for various operating condition of the partially-loaded thyristor converter. The method of current limit of APF is introduced, and it is shown that the APF capacity can be considerably reduced by deliberately limiting the peak current while maintaining the filtering performance to meet the level std 519 regulation.