A continuously variable saturable shunt reactor includes a laminated core having two wound limbs for each phase connected by yokes. A network winding branch is disposed on each limb, high-voltage ends of winding branches of a phase are connected to a phase conductor and low-voltage ends of winding branches are connected to a DC voltage source, to reduce power of the DC voltage sources, degree of distortion of the operating current and control error, and to reduce the number of DC voltage sources. The DC voltage source includes two stabilized, single-pole-grounded power converters with opposite polarities and two electronic transistor changeover switches controlled by a control system, for each phase. The control system feeds direct current to the winding branches of a phase in pulses using the switches and the direct current is fed into the winding branches at opposite poles from different power converters.