Electrical Power Transmission #3

Fine art photographic print - ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION- by Donald Erickson. Location: North Dakota, USA

Electricity is transmitted at... more

by Donald Erickson

Title

Electrical Power Transmission #3

Artist

Donald Erickson

Medium

Photograph - Photographic Prints

Description

Fine art photographic print - ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION- by Donald Erickson. Location: North Dakota, USA

Electricity is transmitted at high voltages (120 kV or above) to reduce the energy losses in long-distance transmission. Power is usually transmitted through overhead power lines. Underground power transmission has a significantly higher cost and greater operational limitations but is sometimes used in urban areas or sensitive locations. --Wickopedia

A key limitation of electric power is that, with minor exceptions, electrical energy cannot be stored, and therefore must be generated as needed. A sophisticated control system is required to ensure electric generation very closely matches the demand. If the demand for power exceeds the supply, generation plant and transmission equipment can shut down, which in the worst case may lead to a major regional blackout, such as occurred in the US Northeast blackout of 1965, 1977, 2003, and other regional blackouts in 1996 and 2011. It is to reduce the risk of such a failure that electric transmission networks are interconnected into regional, national or continent wide networks thereby providing multiple redundant alternative routes for power to flow should such equipment failures occur. Much analysis is done by transmission companies to determine the maximum reliable capacity of each line (ordinarily less than its physical or thermal limit) to ensure spare capacity is available should there be any such failure in another part of the network. --Wickopedia

Uploaded

December 19th, 2014