In 1881 two electricians built the world's first power system at Godalming in England. It was powered by a power station consisting of two waterwheels that produced an alternating current that in turn supplied seven Siemans arc lamps at 250 volts and 34 incandescent lamps at 40 volts. However supply to the lamps was intermittent and in 1882 Thomas Edison and his company, The Edison Electric Light Company, developed the first steam powered electric power station on Pearl Street in New York City. The Pearl Street Station initially powered around 3,000 lamps for 59 customers. The power station used direct current and operated at a single voltage. Direct current power could not be easily transformed to the higher voltages necessary to minimise power loss during long-distance transmission, so the maximum economic distance between the generators and load was limited to around half-a-mile (800 m)
That same year in London Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs demonstrated the first transformer suitable for use in a real power system. The practical value of Gaulard and Gibbs' transformer was demonstrated in 1884 at Turin where the transformer was used to light up forty kilometres (25 miles) of railway from a single alternating current generator. Despite the success of the system, the pair made some fundamental mistakes. Perhaps the most serious was connecting the primaries of the transformers in series so that active lamps would affect the brightness of other lamps further down the line. Following the demonstration George Westinghouse, an American entrepreneur, imported a number of the transformers along with a Siemens generator and set his engineers to experimenting with them in the hopes of improving them for use in a commercial power system.
One of Westinghouse's engineers, William Stanley, recognised the problem with connecting transformers in series as opposed to parallel and also realised that making the iron core of a transformer a fully enclosed loop would improve the voltage regulation of the secondary winding. Using this knowledge he built a much improved alternating current power system at Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1886.
By 1890 the electric power industry was flourising, and power companies had built thousands of power systems (both direct and alternating current) in the United States and Europe. These networks were effectively dedicated to providing electric lighting. During this time a fierce rivalry known as the "War of Currents" emerged between Edison and Nikola Tesla who was employed by Westinghouse over which form of transmission (direct or alternating current) was superior. In 1891, Westinghouse installed the first major power system that was designed by Tesla to drive an electric motor and not just provide electric lighting. The installation powered a 100 horsepower (75 kW) synchronous motor at Telluride, Colorado. On the other side of the Atlantic, Oskar von Miller built a 20 kV 176 km three-phase transmission line from Lauffen am Neckar to Frankfurt am Main for the Electrical Engineering Exhibition in Frankfurt. In 1895, after a protracted decision-making process, the Adams No. 1 generating station at Niagara Falls began transferring three-phase alternating current power to Buffalo at 11 kV. Following completion of the Niagara Falls project, new power systems increasingly chose alternating current as opposed to direct current for electrical transmission.
Developments in power systems continued beyond the nineteenth century. In 1936 the first experimental HVDC (high voltage direct current) line using mercury arc valves was built between Schenectady and Mechanicville, New York. HVDC had previously been achieved by series-connected direct current generators and motors (the Thury system) although this suffered from serious reliability issues. In 1957 Siemens demonstrated the first solid-state rectifier, but it was not until the early 1970s that solid-state devices became the standard in HVDC. In recent times, many important developments have come from extending innovations in the information technology and telecommunications field to the power engineering field. For example, the development of computers meant load flow studies could be run more efficiently allowing for much better planning of power systems. Advances in information technology and telecommunication also allowed for remote control of a power system's switchgear and generators.
Basics of electric power
Most refrigerators, air conditioners, pumps and industrial machinery use AC power where as most computers and digital equipment use DC power (the digital devices you plug into the mains typically have an internal or external power adapter to convert from AC to DC power). AC power has the advantage of being easy to transform between voltages and is able to be generated and utilised by brushless machinery. DC power remains the only practical choice in digital systems and can be more economical to transmit over long distances at very high voltages (see HVDC)
The ability to easily transform the voltage of AC power is important for two reasons: Firstly, power can be transmitted over long distances with less loss at higher voltages. So in power systems where generation is distant from the load, it is desirable to step-up (increase) the voltage of power at the generation point and then step-down (decrease) the voltage near the load. Secondly, it is often more economical to install turbines that produce higher voltages than would be used by most appliances, so the ability to easily transform voltages means this mismatch between voltages can be easily managed.
Solid state device, which are products of the semiconductor revolution, make it possible to transform DC power to different voltages, build brushless DC machines and convert between AC and DC power. Nevertheless devices utilising solid state technology are often more expensive than their traditional counterparts, so AC power remains in widespread use.
Components of power systems
Supplies
The speed at which the rotor spins in combination with the number of generator poles determines the frequency of the alternating current produced by the generator. All generators on a single synchronous system, for example the National Grid (UK) rotate at sub-multiples of the same speed and so generate the same frequency. If the load on the system increases, the generators will require more torque to spin at that speed and, in a typical power station, more steam must be supplied to the turbines driving them. Thus the steam used and the fuel expended are directly dependent on the quantity of electrical energy supplied. (Generators linked to a grid through an asynchronous tie such as an HVDC link need not be synchronous with the rest of the system and may not even be at the same frequency.)
Depending on how the poles are fed, alternating current generators can produce a variable number of phases of power. A higher number of phases leads to more efficient power system operation but also increases the infrastructure requirements of the system.
Electricity grid systems connect multiple generators and loads operating at the same frequency and number of phases, the commonest being three-phase at 50 or 60 Hz. However there are other considerations. These range from the obvious: How much power should the generator be able to supply? What is an acceptable length of time for starting the generator (some generators can take hours to start)? Is the availability of the power source acceptable (some renewables are only available when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing)? To the more technical: How should the generator start (some turbines act like a motor to bring themselves up to speed in which case they need an appropriate starting circuit)? What is the mechanical speed of operation for the turbine and consequently what are the number of poles required? What type of generator is suitable (synchronous or asynchronous) and what type of rotor (squirrel-cage rotor, wound rotor, salient pole rotor or cylindrical rotor
Loads
Making sure that the voltage, frequency and amount of power supplied to the loads is in line with expectations is one of the great challenges of power system engineering. However it is not the only challenge, in addition to the power used by a load to do useful work (termed real power) many alternating current devices also use an additional amount of power because they cause the alternating voltage and alternating current to become slightly out-of-sync (termed reactive power). The reactive power like the real power must balance (that is the reactive power produced on a system must equal the reactive power consumed) and can be supplied from the generators, however it is often more economical to supply such power from capacitors (see "Capacitors and reactors" below for more details)
A final consideration with loads is to do with power quality. In addition to sustained overvoltages and undervoltages (voltage regulation issues) as well as sustained deviations from the system frequency (frequency regulation issues), power system loads can be adversely affected by a range temporal issues. These include voltage sags, dips and swells, transient overvoltages, flicker, high frequency noise, phase imbalance and poor power factor Power quality issues occur when the power supply to a load deviates from the ideal: For an AC supply, the ideal is the current and voltage in-sync fluctuating as a perfect sine wave at a prescribed frequency with the voltage at a prescribed amplitude. For DC supply, the ideal is the voltage not varying from a prescribed level. Power quality issues can be especially important when it comes to specialist industrial machinary or hospital equipment.
Conductors
Conductors carry power from the generators to the load. In a grid, conductors may be classified as belonging to the transmission system, which carries large amounts of power at high voltages (typically more than 50 kV) from the generating centres to the load centres, or the distribution system, which feeds smaller amounts of power at lower voltages (typically less than 50 kV) from the load centres to nearby homes and industry.Choice of conductors is based upon considerations such as cost, transmission losses and other desirable characteristics of the metal like tensile strength. Copper, with lower resistivity than aluminium, was the conductor of choice for most power systems. However, aluminum has lower cost for the same current carrying capacity and is the primary metal used for transmission line conductors. Overhead line conductors may be reinforced with steel or aluminum alloys.
Conductors in exterior power systems may be placed overhead or underground. Overhead conductors are usually air insulated and supported on porcelain, glass or polymer insulators. Cables used for underground transmission or building wiring are insulated with cross-linked polyethylene or other flexible insulation. Large conductors are stranded for ease of handling; small conductors used for building wiring are often solid, especially in light commercial or residential construction.
Conductors are typically rated for the maximum current that they can carry at a given temperature rise over ambient conditions. As current flow increases through a conductor it heats up. For insulated conductors, the rating is determined by the insulation. For overhead conductors, the rating is determined by the point at which the sag of the conductors would become unacceptable.
Capacitors and reactors
The majority of the load in a typical AC power system, is inductive; the current lags behind the voltage. Since the voltage and current are out-of-sync, this leads to the emergence of a "useless" form of power known as reactive power. Reactive power does no measurable work but is transmitted back and forth between the reactive power source and load every cycle. This reactive power can be provided by the generators themselves but it is often cheaper to provide it through capacitors, hence capacitors are often placed near inductive loads to reduce current demand on the power system. Power factor correction may be applied at a central substation or adjacent to large loads.Reactors consume reactive power and are used to regulate voltage on long transmission lines. In light load conditions, where the loading on transmission lines is well below the surge impedance loading, the efficiency of the power system may actually be improved by switching in reactors. Reactors installed in series in a power system also limit rushes of current flow, small reactors are therefore almost always installed in series with capacitors to limit the current rush associated with switching in a capacitor. Series reactors can also be used to limit fault currents.
Capacitors and reactors are switched by circuit breakers, which results in moderately large steps in reactive power. A solution comes in the form of static VAR compensators and static synchronous compensators. Briefly, static VAR compensators work by switching in capacitors using thyristors as opposed to circuit breakers allowing capacitors to be switched-in and switched-out within a single cycle. This provides a far more refined response than circuit breaker switched capacitors. Static synchronous compensators take it a step further by achieving reactive power adjustments using only power electronics.
Power electronics
Power electronics are semi-conductor based devices that are able to switch quantities of power ranging from a few hundred watts to several hundred megawatts. Despite their relatively simple function, their speed of operation (typically in the order of nanoseconds) means they are capable of a wide range of tasks that would be difficult or impossible with conventional technology. The classic function of power electronics is rectification, or the conversion of AC-to-DC power, power electronics are therefore found in almost every digital device that is supplied from an AC source either as an adapter that plugs into the wall (see photo in Basics of Electric Power section) or as component internal to the device. High-powered power electronics can also be used to convert AC power to DC power for long distance transmission in a system known as HVDC. HVDC is used because it proves to be more economical than similar high voltage AC systems for very long distances (hundreds to thousands of kilometres). HVDC is also desirable for interconnects because it allows frequency independence thus improving system stability. Power electronics are also essential for any power source that is required to produce an AC output but that by its nature produces a DC output. They are therefore used by many photovoltaic installations both industrial and residential.Power electronics also feature in a wide range of more exotic uses. They are at the heart of all modern electric and hybrid vehicles - where they are used for both motor control and as part of the brushless DC motor. Power electronics are also found in practically all modern petrol-powered vehicles, this is because the power provided by the car's batteries alone is insufficient to provide ignition, air-conditioning, internal lighting, radio and dashboard displays for the life of the car. So the batteries must be recharged while driving using DC power from the engine - a feat that is typically accomplished using power electronics. Where as conventional technology would be unsuitable for a modern electric car, commutators can and have been used in petrol-powered cars, the switch to alternators in combination with power electronics has occurred because of the improved durability of brushless machinery.
Some electric railway systems also use DC power and thus make use of power electronics to feed grid power to the locomotives and often for speed control of the locomotive's motor. In the middle twentieth century, rectifier locomotives were popular, these used power electronics to convert AC power from the railway network for use by a DC motor. Today most electric locomotives are supplied with AC power and run using AC motors, but still use power electronics to provide suitable motor control. The use of power electronics to assist with motor control and with starter circuits cannot be underestimated and, in addition to rectification, is responsible for power electronics appearing in a wide range of industrial machinery. Power electronics even appear in modern residential air conditioners.
Power electronics are also at the heart of the variable-speed wind turbine. Put simply, conventional wind turbines require significant engineering to ensure they operate at some ratio of the system frequency (the ratio being accounted for using gears), however by using power electronics this requirement can be eliminated as can the gears leading to quieter, more flexible and (at the moment) more costly wind turbines. A final example of one of the more exotic uses of power electronics comes from the previous section where the fast-switching times of power electronics were used to provide more refined reactive compensation to the power system
Protective devices
Power systems contain protective devices to prevent injury or damage during failures. The quintessential protective device is the fuse. When the current through a fuse exceeds a certain threshold, the fuse element melts, producing an arc across the resulting gap that is then extinguished, interrupting the circuit. Given that fuses can be built as the weak point of a system, fuses are ideal for protecting circuitry from damage. Fuses however have two problems: First, after they have functioned, fuses must be replaced as they cannot be reset. This can prove inconvenient if the fuse is at a remote site or a spare fuse is not on hand. And second, fuses are typically inadequate as the sole safety device in most power systems as they allow current flows well in excess of that that would prove lethal to a human or animal.
The first problem is resolved by the use of circuit breakers - devices that can be reset after they have broken current flow. In modern systems that use less than about 10 kW, miniature circuit breakers are typically used. These devices combine the mechanism that initiates the trip (by sensing excess current) as well as the mechanism that breaks the current flow in a single unit. Some miniature circuit breakers operate solely on the basis of electromagnetism. In these miniature circuit breakers, the current is run through a solenoid, and, in the event of excess current flow, the magnetic pull of the solenoid is sufficient to force open the circuit breaker's contacts (often indirectly through a tripping mechanism). A better design however arises by inserting a bimetallic strip before the solenoid - this means that instead of always producing a magnetic force, the solenoid only produces a magnetic force when the current is strong enough to deform the bimetallic strip and complete the solenoid's circuit.
In higher powered applications, the protective relays that detect a fault and initiate a trip are separate from the circuit breaker. Early relays worked based upon electromagnetic principles similar to those mentioned in the previous paragraph, modern relays are application-specific computers that determine whether to trip based upon readings from the power system. Different relays will initiate trips depending upon different protection schemes. For example, an overcurrent relay might initiate a trip if the current on any phase exceeds a certain threshold where as a set of differential relays might initiate a trip if the sum of currents between them indicates there may be current leaking to earth. The circuit breakers in higher powered applications are different too. Air is typically no longer sufficient to quell the arc that forms when the contacts are forced open so a variety of techniques are used. The most popular technique at the moment is to keep the chamber enclosing the contacts flooded with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) - a non-toxic gas that has superb arc-quelling properties. Other techniques are discussed in the reference.
The second problem, the inadequacy of fuses to act as the sole safety device in most power systems, is probably best resolved by the use of residual current devices (RCDs). In any properly functioning electrical appliance the current flowing into the appliance on the active line should equal the current flowing out of the appliance on the neutral line. A residual current device works by monitoring the active and neutral lines and tripping the active line if it notices a difference. Residual current devices require a separate neutral line for each phase and to be able to trip within a time frame before harm occurs. This is typically not a problem in most residential applications where standard wiring provides an active and neutral line for each appliance (that's why your power plugs always have at least two tongs) and the voltages are relatively low however these issues do limit the effectiveness of RCDs in other applications such as industry. Even with the installation of an RCD, exposure to electricity can still prove lethal.
