Electric Power Industry
Electric Power Industry
Electric Power Industry
Contents
History
Organization
Generation
Electric power transmission
Electric power distribution
Electric retailing
World electricity industries
Market reform
See also
References
Further reading
History
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In early 1882, Edison opened the world's first steam-powered electricity generating station at
Holborn Viaduct in London, where he had entered into an agreement with the City Corporation for a
period of three months to provide street lighting. In time he had supplied a number of local
consumers with electric light. The method of supply was direct current (DC). Whilst the Godalming
and the 1882 Holborn Viaduct Scheme closed after a few years the Brighton Scheme continued on,
and supply was in 1887 made available for 24 hours per day.
It was later on in the year in September 1882 that Edison opened the Pearl Street Power Station in
New York City and again it was a DC supply. It was for this reason that the generation was close to or
on the consumer's premises as Edison had no means of voltage conversion. The voltage chosen for
any electrical system is a compromise. For a given amount of power transmitted, increasing the
voltage reduces the current and therefore reduces the required wire thickness. Unfortunately it also
increases the danger from direct contact and increases the required insulation thickness.
Furthermore, some load types were difficult or impossible to make work with higher voltages. The
overall effect was that Edison's system required power stations to be within a mile of the consumers.
While this could work in city centres, it would be unable to economically supply suburbs with
power.[1]
The mid to late 1880s saw the introduction of alternating current (AC) systems in Europe and the
U.S. AC power had an advantage in that transformers, installed at power stations, could be used to
raise the voltage from the generators, and transformers at local substations could reduce voltage to
supply loads. Increasing the voltage reduced the current in the transmission and distribution lines
and hence the size of conductors and distribution losses. This made it more economical to distribute
power over long distances. Generators (such as hydroelectric sites) could be located far from the
loads. AC and DC competed for a while, during a period called the war of the currents. The DC
system was able to claim slightly greater safety, but this difference was not great enough to
overwhelm the enormous technical and economic advantages of alternating current which eventually
won out.[1]
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A breakthrough in power electronics came with the invention of the MOSFET (metal-oxide-
semiconductor field-effect transistor) in 1959. Generations of MOSFETs enabled power designers to
achieve performance and density levels not possible with bipolar transistors.[4] In 1969, Hitachi
introduced the first vertical power MOSFET,[5] which would later be known as the VMOS (V-groove
MOSFET).[6] The power MOSFET has since become the most common power device in the world,
due to its low gate drive power, fast switching speed,[7] easy advanced paralleling capability,[7][8]
wide bandwidth, ruggedness, easy drive, simple biasing, ease of application, and ease of repair.[8]
While HVDC is increasingly being used to transmit large quantities of electricity over long distances
or to connect adjacent asynchronous power systems, the bulk of electricity generation, transmission,
distribution and retailing takes place using alternating current.
Organization
The electric power industry is commonly split up into four processes. These are electricity generation
such as a power station, electric power transmission, electricity distribution and electricity retailing.
In many countries, electric power companies own the whole infrastructure from generating stations
to transmission and distribution infrastructure. For this reason, electric power is viewed as a natural
monopoly. The industry is generally heavily regulated, often with price controls and is frequently
government-owned and operated. However, the modern trend has been growing deregulation in at
least the latter two processes.[9]
The nature and state of market reform of the electricity market often determines whether electric
companies are able to be involved in just some of these processes without having to own the entire
infrastructure, or citizens choose which components of infrastructure to patronise. In countries
where electricity provision is deregulated, end-users of electricity may opt for more costly green
electricity.
Generation
All forms of electricity generation have positive and negative aspects. Technology will probably
eventually declare the most preferred forms, but in a market economy, the options with less overall
costs generally will be chosen above other sources. It is not clear yet which form can best meet the
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Historically, transmission and distribution lines were owned by the same company, but starting in
the 1990s, many countries have liberalized the regulation of the electricity market in ways that have
led to the separation of the electricity transmission business from the distribution business.[10]
Electric retailing
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Electricity retailing is the final sale of electricity from generation to the end-use consumer.
Not everyone has access to grid electricity. About 840 million people (mostly in Africa) had no access
in 2017, down from 1.2 billion in 2010.[13]
Market reform
The business model behind the electric utility has changed over the years playing a vital role in
shaping the electricity industry into what it is today; from generation, transmission, distribution, to
the final local retailing. This has occurred prominently since the reform of the electricity supply
industry in England and Wales in 1990. In some countries, wholesale electricity markets operate,
with generators and retailers trading electricity in a similar manner to shares and currency. 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. One such purchase was when the UK's
National Grid, the largest private electric utility in the world, bought New England’s electric system
for $3.2 billion.[14] Between 1995 and 1997, seven of the 12 Regional Electric Companies (RECs) in
England and Wales were bought by U.S. energy companies.[15] Domestically, local electric and gas
firms have merged operations as they saw the advantages 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 aircraft; 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.[16]
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 processes, and transportation (for
example hybrid vehicles, locomotives).[16]
See also
AC power
Distributed generation
Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database
Meter Point Administration Number, a unique UK supply number
National Grid (disambiguation)
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
Rate Case
Reddy Kilowatt, a U.S. electricity corporate logo
Samuel Insull
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References
1. Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity – 2. The Age of Invention
2. Thompson, M.T. "Notes 01" (http://www.thompsonrd.com/NOTES%2001%20INTRODUCTION%
20TO%20POWER%20ELECTRONICS.pdf) (PDF). Introduction to Power Electronics. Thompson
Consulting, Inc.
3. Kharagpur. "Power Semiconductor Devices" (http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/Webcourse-contents/I
IT%20Kharagpur/Power%20Electronics/PDF/L-1(SSG)(PE)%20((EE)NPTEL).pdf) (PDF). EE IIT.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080920222959/http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/Webcours
e-contents/IIT%20Kharagpur/Power%20Electronics/PDF/L-1(SSG)(PE)%20((EE)NPTEL).pdf)
(PDF) from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
4. "Rethink Power Density with GaN" (https://www.electronicdesign.com/power/rethink-power-densi
ty-gan). Electronic Design. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
5. Oxner, E. S. (1988). Fet Technology and Application (https://books.google.com/books?id=0AE-0
e-sAnsC&pg=PA18). CRC Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780824780500.
6. "Advances in Discrete Semiconductors March On" (https://www.powerelectronics.com/content/ad
vances-discrete-semiconductors-march). Power Electronics Technology. Informa: 52–6.
September 2005. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060322222716/http://powerelectronic
s.com/mag/509PET26.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 22 March 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
7. "Power MOSFET Basics" (http://www.aosmd.com/res/application_notes/mosfets/Power_MOSFE
T_Basics.pdf) (PDF). Alpha & Omega Semiconductor. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
8. Duncan, Ben (1996). High Performance Audio Power Amplifiers (https://archive.org/details/highp
erfomanceau0000dunc/page/178). Elsevier. pp. 178–81 (https://archive.org/details/highperfoman
ceau0000dunc/page/178). ISBN 9780080508047.
9. "The Bumpy Road to Energy Deregulation" (https://www.en-powered.com/blog/the-bumpy-road-t
o-energy-deregulation). EnPowered. 2016-03-28.
10. "A Primer on Electric Utilities, Deregulation, and Restructuring of U.S. Electricity Markets" (http
s://www.pnnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-13906.pdf) (pdf). United
States Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). May 2002.
Retrieved October 30, 2018.
11. Short, T.A. (2014). Electric Power Distribution Handbook. Boca Raton, Florida, USA: CRC Press.
pp. 1–33. ISBN 978-1-4665-9865-2.
12. "How Power Grids Work" (http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/power5.htm).
HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
13. Closing Sub-Saharan Africa’s Electricity Access Gap: Why Cities Must Be Part of the Solution (ht
tps://www.wri.org/blog/2019/08/closing-sub-saharan-africa-electricity-access-gap-why-cities-must
-be-part-solution)
14. SEC filing dated March 15, 2000 (https://www.sec.gov/rules/other/35-27154.htm)
15. "Electricity companies in the United Kingdom – a brief chronology," Electricity Association, 30
June 2003 (http://www.privatizationbarometer.com/PUB/RD/1/9/3/ElectricityChronology.pdf)
16. Borberly, A. and Kreider, J. F. (2001). Distributed Generation: The Power Paradigm for the New
Millennium. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 400 pp.
Further reading
P. Strange, "Early Electricity Supply in Britain: Chesterfield and Godalming", IEEE Proceedings
(1979).
D. G. Tucker, "Hydro-Electricity for Public Supply in Britain", Industrial Archaeology Review,
(1977).
B. Bowers, A History of Electric Light & Power, Peregrinus (1982).
T. P. Hughes, Networks of Power, Johns Hopkins Press London (1983).
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