The value of the electric grid
The discovery of electricity is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of all time. Electricity is the backbone of our current modern-day society, and people around the world depend on it every single day.
We may see electricity as something that is always present now, but the current infrastructure of today’s electric grid took a lot of coordination, investment and efforts. Although the electric grid itself is complex, the process of delivering power to consumers isn’t difficult to understand. Here’s how electricity is sent from the electric grid to your home or business.
The first step is to generate the electricity itself, which can be done using several different types of energy. There are non-renewable energy sources, like coal or natural gas, and there are also renewable energy sources, like solar power, wind power or hydropower. The generation infrastructure depends on the type of energy being used, such as a power plant for natural gas, a dam for hydropower or a large array of solar panels. As generation technology has evolved over the last decade, solar power and wind power are playing a larger role in the generation mix than ever before.
The next step is to carry the generated energy through transmission lines. High-voltage transmission lines are the first phase in delivering electricity, and they help to move large amounts of energy from the generation source to more populated areas. Through transformers located at a distribution substation, the electricity is carried from transmission lines to distribution power lines. Distribution lines carry electricity to businesses, neighborhoods and individual homes, where it is ready to be used by consumers.
We often take for granted the availability of electricity around us, but without electricity, we would lose a great deal of value in our lives. Because of the electric grid, we can light our homes after the sun goes down, power our smart phones, keep our food refrigerated — and so much more. We tend to only notice electricity when it is missing and can no longer complete our daily tasks. But when we’re more aware of how we receive our electricity, we can all appreciate the electric grid much more.
