Electrical grid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Grid (disambiguation).

General layout of electricity networks. Voltages and depictions of electrical lines are typical for Germany
and other European systems.
An electrical grid (also referred to as an electricity grid or electric grid) is an interconnected network for
delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It consists of generating stations that produce electrical
power, high-voltage transmission lines that carry power from distant sources to demand centers, and
distribution lines that connect individual customers.[1]
Power stations may be located near a fuel source, at a dam site, or to take advantage of renewable energy
sources, and are often located away from heavily populated areas. They are usually quite large to take
advantage of the economies of scale. The electric power which is generated is stepped up to a higher
voltage-at which it connects to the transmission network.
The transmission network will move the power long distances, sometimes across international boundaries,
until it reaches its wholesale customer (usually the company that owns the local distribution network).
On arrival at a substation, the power will be stepped down from a transmission level voltage to a distribution
level voltage. As it exits the substation, it enters the distribution wiring. Finally, upon arrival at the service
location, the power is stepped down again from the distribution voltage to the required service voltage(s).

Contents

1 Term
2 History
3 Features
o 3.1 Structure of distribution grids
o 3.2 Geography of transmission networks
o 3.3 Redundancy and defining "grid"

3.4 Interconnected Grid

4 Aging Infrastructure
5 Modern trends
6 Future trends
7 Emerging smart grid
8 References
9 External links

Term
The term grid usually refers to a network, and should not be taken to imply a particular physical layout or
breadth. Grid may also be used to refer to an entire continent's electrical network, a regional transmission
network or may be used to describe a subnetwork such as a local utility's transmission grid or distribution
grid.

History
Since its inception in the Industrial Age, the electrical grid has evolved from an insular system that serviced
a particular geographic area to a wider, expansive network that incorporated multiple areas. At one point, all
energy was produced near the device or service requiring that energy. In the early 19th century, electricity
was a novel invention that competed with steam, hydraulics, direct heating and cooling, light, and most
notably gas. During this period, gas production and delivery had become the first centralized element in the
modern energy industry. It was first produced on customers premises but later evolved into large gasifiers
that enjoyed economies of scale. Virtually every city in the U.S. and Europe had town gas piped through
their municipalities as it was a dominant form of household energy use. By the mid-19th century, electric arc
lighting soon became advantageous compared to volatile gas lamps since gas lamps produced poor light,
tremendous wasted heat which made rooms hot and smoky, and noxious elements in the form of hydrogen
and carbon monoxide. Modeled after the gas lighting industry, the first electric utility systems supplied
energy through virtual mains to light filtration as opposed to gas burners. With this, electric utilities also
took advantage of economies of scale and moved to centralized power generation, distribution, and system
management.[2]
With the realization of long distance power transmission it was possible to interconnect different central
stations to balance loads and improve load factors. Interconnection became increasingly desirable as
electrification grew rapidly in the early years of the 20th century. Like telegraphy before it, wired electricity
was often carried on and through the circuits of colonial rule.[3]
Charles Merz, of the Merz & McLellan consulting partnership, built the Neptune Bank Power Station near
Newcastle upon Tyne in 1901,[4] and by 1912 had developed into the largest integrated power system in
Europe.[5] In 1905 he tried to influence Parliament to unify the variety of voltages and frequencies in the
country's electricity supply industry, but it was not until World War I that Parliament began to take this idea
seriously, appointing him head of a Parliamentary Committee to address the problem. In 1916 Merz pointed
out that the UK could use its small size to its advantage, by creating a dense distribution grid to feed its
industries efficiently. His findings led to the Williamson Report of 1918, which in turn created the
Electricity Supply Bill of 1919. The bill was the first step towards an integrated electricity system.
The more significant Electricity (Supply) Act of 1926 led to the setting up of the National Grid.[6] The
Central Electricity Board standardised the nation's electricity supply and established the first synchronised
AC grid, running at 132 kilovolts and 50 Hertz. This started operating as a national system, the National
Grid, in 1938.
In the United States in the 1920s, utilities joined together establishing a wider utility grid as joint-operations
saw the benefits of sharing peak load coverage and backup power. Also, electric utilities were easily
financed by Wall Street private investors who backed many of their ventures. In 1934, with the passage of

the Public Utility Holding Company Act (USA), electric utilities were recognized as public goods of
importance along with gas, water, and telephone companies and thereby were given outlined restrictions and
regulatory oversight of their operations. This ushered in the Golden Age of Regulation for more than 60
years. However, with the successful deregulation of airlines and telecommunication industries in late 1970s,
the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 advocated deregulation of electric utilities by creating wholesale
electric markets. It required transmission line owners to allow electric generation companies open access to
their network.[2][7] The act led to a major restructuring of how the electric industry operated in an effort to
create competition in power generation. No longer were electric utilities built as vertical monopolies, where
generation, transmission and distribution were handled by a single company. Now, the three stages could be
split among various companies, in an effort to provide fair accessibility to high voltage transmission.[8] In
2005, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed to allow incentives and loan guarantees for alternative
energy production and advance innovative technologies that avoided greenhouse emissions.

Features

The wide area synchronous grids of Europe. Most are members of the European Transmission System
Operators association.

The Continental U.S. power transmission grid consists of about 300,000 km of lines operated by
approximately 500 companies.

High-voltage direct current interconnections in western Europe - red are existing links, green are under
construction, and blue are proposed.

Structure of distribution grids

The following text needs to be harmonized with text in Electricity distribution.
The structure, or "topology" of a grid can vary considerably. The physical layout is often forced by what
land is available and its geology. The logical topology can vary depending on the constraints of budget,
requirements for system reliability, and the load and generation characteristics.
The cheapest and simplest topology for a distribution or transmission grid is a radial structure. This is a tree
shape where power from a large supply radiates out into progressively lower voltage lines until the
destination homes and businesses are reached.
Most transmission grids require the reliability that more complex mesh networks provide. If one were to
imagine running redundant lines between limbs/branches of a tree that could be turned in case any particular
limb of the tree were severed, then this image approximates how a mesh system operates. The expense of
mesh topologies restrict their application to transmission and medium voltage distribution grids.
Redundancy allows line failures to occur and power is simply rerouted while workmen repair the damaged
and deactivated line.
Other topologies used are looped systems found in Europe and tied ring networks.
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (February 2010)
In cities and towns of North America, the grid tends to follow the classic radially fed design. A substation
receives its power from the transmission network, the power is stepped down with a transformer and sent to
a bus from which feeders fan out in all directions across the countryside. These feeders carry three-phase
power, and tend to follow the major streets near the substation. As the distance from the substation grows,
the fanout continues as smaller laterals spread out to cover areas missed by the feeders. This tree-like
structure grows outward from the substation, but for reliability reasons, usually contains at least one unused
backup connection to a nearby substation. This connection can be enabled in case of an emergency, so that a
portion of a substation's service territory can be alternatively fed by another substation.

Geography of transmission networks

The following text needs to be harmonized with text in Electric power transmission.
Transmission networks are more complex with redundant pathways. For example, see the map of the United
States' (right) high-voltage transmission network.
A wide area synchronous grid or "interconnection" is a group of distribution areas all operating with
alternating current (AC) frequencies synchronized (so that peaks occur at the same time). This allows
transmission of AC power throughout the area, connecting a large number of electricity generators and
consumers and potentially enabling more efficient electricity markets and redundant generation.
Interconnection maps are shown of North America (right) and Europe (below left).
In a synchronous grid all the generators run not only at the same frequency but also at the same phase, each
generator maintained by a local governor that regulates the driving torque by controlling the steam supply to
the turbine driving it. Generation and consumption must be balanced across the entire grid, because energy
is consumed almost instantaneously as it is produced. Energy is stored in the immediate short term by the
rotational kinetic energy of the generators.

A large failure in one part of the grid - unless quickly compensated for - can cause current to re-route itself
to flow from the remaining generators to consumers over transmission lines of insufficient capacity, causing
further failures. One downside to a widely connected grid is thus the possibility of cascading failure and
widespread power outage. A central authority is usually designated to facilitate communication and develop
protocols to maintain a stable grid. For example, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation gained
binding powers in the United States in 2006, and has advisory powers in the applicable parts of Canada and
Mexico. The U.S. government has also designated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, where
it believes transmission bottlenecks have developed.
Some areas, for example rural communities in Alaska, do not operate on a large grid, relying instead on
local diesel generators.[9]
High-voltage direct current lines or variable frequency transformers can be used to connect two alternating
current interconnection networks which are not synchronized with each other. This provides the benefit of
interconnection without the need to synchronize an even wider area. For example, compare the wide area
synchronous grid map of Europe (above left) with the map of HVDC lines (below right).

Redundancy and defining "grid"

A town is only said to have achieved grid connection when it is connected to several redundant sources,
generally involving long-distance transmission.
This redundancy is limited. Existing national or regional grids simply provide the interconnection of
facilities to utilize whatever redundancy is available. The exact stage of development at which the supply
structure becomes a grid is arbitrary. Similarly, the term national grid is something of an anachronism in
many parts of the world, as transmission cables now frequently cross national boundaries. The terms
distribution grid for local connections and transmission grid for long-distance transmissions are therefore
preferred, but national grid is often still used for the overall structure.

Interconnected Grid
Electric utilities across regions are many times interconnected to allow for a variety of advantages. First is
the fact that electric utilities benefits from its nature of being large and interconnecting utilities allows for
economies of scale. Second, utilities can draw power from generator reserves from a different region in
order to ensure continuing, reliable power and diversify their loads. Interconnection also allows regions to
have access to cheap bulk energy by receiving power from different sources. For example, one region may
be producing cheap hydro power during high water seasons, but in low water seasons, another area may be
producing cheaper power through wind, allowing both regions to access cheaper energy sources from one
another during different times of the year. Neighboring utilities also help others to maintain the overall
system frequency and also help manage tie transfers between utility regions.[8]

Aging Infrastructure
Despite the novel institutional arrangements and network designs of the electrical grid, its power delivery
infrastructures suffer aging across the developed world. Four contributing factors to the current state of the
electric grid and its consequences include:
1. Aging power equipment older equipment have higher failure rates, leading to customer interruption
rates affecting the economy and society; also, older assets and facilities lead to higher inspection
maintenance costs and further repair/restoration costs.
2. Obsolete system layout older areas require serious additional substation sites and rights-of-way that
cannot be obtained in current area and are forced to use existing, insufficient facilities.

3. Outdated engineering traditional tools for power delivery planning and engineering are ineffective
in addressing current problems of aged equipment, obsolete system layouts, and modern deregulated
loading levels
4. Old cultural value planning, engineering, operating of system using concepts and procedures that
worked in vertically integrated industry exacerbate the problem under a deregulated industry [10]

Modern trends
As the 21st century progresses, the electric utility industry seeks to take advantage of novel approaches to
meet growing energy demand. Utilities are under pressure to evolve their classic topologies to accommodate
distributed generation. As generation becomes more common from rooftop solar and wind generators, the
differences between distribution and transmission grids will continue to blur. Also, demand response is a
grid management technique where retail or wholesale customers are requested either electronically or
manually to reduce their load. Currently, transmission grid operators use demand response to request load
reduction from major energy users such as industrial plants.[11]
With everything interconnected, and open competition occurring in a free market economy, it starts to make
sense to allow and even encourage distributed generation (DG). Smaller generators, usually not owned by
the utility, can be brought on-line to help supply the need for power. The smaller generation facility might
be a home-owner with excess power from their solar panel or wind turbine. It might be a small office with a
diesel generator. These resources can be brought on-line either at the utility's behest, or by owner of the
generation in an effort to sell electricity. Many small generators are allowed to sell electricity back to the
grid for the same price they would pay to buy it. Furthermore, numerous efforts are underway to develop a
"smart grid". In the U.S., the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Title XIII of the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 are providing funding to encourage smart grid development. The hope is to enable
utilities to better predict their needs, and in some cases involve consumers in some form of time-of-use
based tariff. Funds have also been allocated to develop more robust energy control technologies.[12][13]
Various planned and proposed systems to dramatically increase transmission capacity are known as super, or
mega grids. The promised benefits include enabling the renewable energy industry to sell electricity to
distant markets, the ability to increase usage of intermittent energy sources by balancing them across vast
geological regions, and the removal of congestion that prevents electricity markets from flourishing. Local
opposition to siting new lines and the significant cost of these projects are major obstacles to super grids.
One study for a European super grid estimates that as much as 750 GW of extra transmission capacity would
be required- capacity that would be accommodated in increments of 5 GW HVDC lines. A recent proposal
by Transcanada priced a 1,600-km, 3-GW HVDC line at $3 billion USD and would require a corridor wide.
In India, a recent 6 GW, 1,850-km proposal was priced at $790 million and would require a wide right of
way. With 750 GW of new HVDC transmission capacity required for a European super grid, the land and
money needed for new transmission lines would be considerable.

Future trends
As deregulation continues further, utilities are driven to sell their assets as the energy market follows in line
with the gas market in use of the futures and spot markets and other financial arrangements. Even
globalization with foreign purchases are taking place. Recently, U.Ks National Grid, the largest private
electric utility in the world, bought New Englands electric system for $3.2 billion. See the SEC filing dated
March 15, 2000 Here Also, Scottish Power purchased Pacific Energy for $12.8 billion.[citation needed]
Domestically, local electric and gas firms begin to merge operations as they see advantage of joint affiliation
especially with the reduced cost of joint-metering. Technological advances will take place in the competitive
wholesale electric markets such examples already being utilized include fuel cells used in space flight,
aeroderivative gas turbines used in jet aircrafts, solar engineering and photovoltaic systems, off-shore wind
farms, and the communication advances spawned by the digital world particularly with microprocessing
which aids in monitoring and dispatching.[2]

Electricity is expected to see growing demand in the future. The Information Revolution is highly reliant on
electric power. Other growth areas include emerging new electricity-exclusive technologies, developments
in space conditioning, industrial process, and transportation (for example hybrid vehicles, locomotives).[2]

Emerging smart grid

As mentioned above, the electrical grid is expected to evolve to a new grid paradigmsmart grid, an
enhancement of the 20th century electrical grid. The traditional electrical grids are generally used to carry
power from a few central generators to a large number of users or customers. In contrast, the new emerging
smart grid uses two-way ows of electricity and information to create an automated and distributed
advanced energy delivery network.
Many research projects have been conducted to explore the concept of smart grid. According to a newest
survey on smart grid,[14] the research is mainly focused on three systems in smart grid- the infrastructure
system, the management system, and the protection system.
The infrastructure system is the energy, information, and communication infrastructure underlying of the
smart grid that supports 1) advanced electricity generation, delivery, and consumption; 2) advanced
information metering, monitoring, and management; and 3) advanced communication technologies. In the
transition from the conventional power grid to smart grid, we will replace a physical infrastructure with a
digital one. The needs and changes present the power industry with one of the biggest challenges it has ever
faced.
A smart grid would allow the power industry to observe and control parts of the system at higher resolution
in time and space.[15] It would allow for customers to obtain cheaper, greener, less intrusive, more reliable
and higher quality power from the grid. The legacy grid did not allow for real time information to be relayed
from the grid, so one of the main purposes of the smart grid would be to allow real time information to be
received and sent from and to various parts of the grid to make operation as efficient and seamless as
possible. It would allow us to manage logistics of the grid and view consequences that arise from its
operation on a time scale with high resolution; from high-frequency switching devices on a microsecond
scale, to wind and solar output variations on a minute scale, to the future effects of the carbon emissions
generated by power production on a decade scale.
The management system is the subsystem in smart grid that provides advanced management and control
services. Most of the existing works aim to improve energy efciency, demand prole, utility, cost, and
emission, based on the infrastructure by using optimization, machine learning, and game theory. Within the
advanced infrastructure framework of smart grid, more and more new management services and applications
are expected to emerge and eventually revolutionize consumers' daily lives.
The protection system is the subsystem in smart grid that provides advanced grid reliability analysis, failure
protection, and security and privacy protection services. We must note that the advanced infrastructure used
in smart grid on one hand empowers us to realize more powerful mechanisms to defend against attacks and
handle failures, but on the other hand, opens up many new vulnerabilities. For example, NIST pointed out
that the major benefit provided by smart grid, the ability to get richer data to and from customer smart
meters and other electric devices, is also its Achilles' heel from a privacy viewpoint. The obvious privacy
concern is that the energy use information stored at the meter acts as an information rich side channel. This
information could be mined and retrieved by interested parties to reveal personal information such as
individual's habits, behaviors, activities, and even beliefs.

References
1. Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power Transmission: Background and Policy Issues.
The Capital.Net, Government Series. Pp. 1-42.

2. Borberly, A. and Kreider, J. F. (2001). Distributed Generation: The Power Paradigm for the New
Millennium. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 400 pgs.
3. Shamir, Ronen (2013). Current Flow: The Electrification of Palestine. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.
4. Mr Alan Shaw (29 September 2005). "Kelvin to Weir, and on to GB SYS 2005" (PDF). Royal
Society of Edinburgh.
5. "Survey of Belford 1995". North Northumberland Online.
6. "Lighting by electricity". The National Trust.
7. Mazer, A. (2007). Electric Power Planning for Regulated and Deregulated Markets. John, Wiley, and
Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. 313pgs.
8. . (2001). Glover J. D., Sarma M. S., Overbye T. J. (2010) Power System and Analysis 5th Edition.
Cengage Learning. Pg 21.
9. Energy profile of Alaska, United States, Editor: Cutler J. Cleveland, Last Updated: July 30, 2008 Encyclopedia of Earth
10. Willis, H. L., Welch, G. V., and Schrieber, R. R. (2001). Aging Power Delivery Infrastructures.
Marcel Dekker, Inc. : New York. 551 pgs.
11. "Industry Cross-Section Develops Action Plans at PJM Demand Response Symposium". Reuters.
2008-08-13. Retrieved 2008-11-22. Demand response can be achieved at the wholesale level with
major energy users such as industrial plants curtailing power use and receiving payment for
participating.
12. "U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007". Retrieved 2007-12-23.[dead link]
13. DOE Provides up to $51.8 Million to Modernize the U.S. Electric Grid System, June 27, 2007, U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE)
14. Smart Grid - The New and Improved Power Grid: A Survey; IEEE Communications Surveys and
Tutorials 2011; X. Fang, S. Misra, G. Xue, and D. Yang; doi:10.1109/SURV.2011.101911.00087.
15. Alexandra Von Meier (2013). Electrical Engineer 137A: Electric Power Systems. Lecture
2:Introduction to Electric Power Systems, Slide 33.

External links

Map of U.S. generation and transmission

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