![]() Ĭontinued reinforcement and extension of the 275 kV systems was examined as a possible solution. These developments shifted the emphasis on the transmission system from interconnection to bulk power transfers from the generation areas to the load centres, such as the anticipated transfer in 1970 of some 6,000 MW from the Midlands to the home counties. West Burton's 4 × 500 MW machines, in the Nottinghamshire coalfield near the River Trent, is an example. These new stations were mostly to be sited where advantage could be taken of a surplus of cheap low-grade fuel and adequate supplies of cooling water, but these sites did not coincide with the load centres. Ĭonsidered in the study, together with the increased demand, was the effect on the transmission system of the rapid advances in generator design resulting in projected power stations of 2,000–3,000 MW installed capacity. This rapid growth led the Central Electricity Generating Board (created in 1958) to carry out a study in 1960 of future transmission needs. ![]() The predicted demand was already exceeded by 1960. In 1949, the British Electricity Authority decided to upgrade the grid by adding 275 kV links.Īt its inception in 1950, the 275 kV Transmission System was designed to form part of a national supply system with an anticipated total demand of 30,000 MW by 1970. The grid was nationalised by the Electricity Act 1947, which also created the British Electricity Authority. The grid proved its worth during the Blitz, when South Wales provided power to replace lost output from Battersea and Fulham power stations. The growth by then in the number of electricity users was the fastest in the world, rising from three quarters of a million in 1920 to nine million in 1938. Following the unauthorised but successful short term parallelling of all regional grids by the night-time engineers on 29 October 1937, by 1938 the grid was operating as a national system. It began operating in 1933 as a series of regional grids with auxiliary interconnections for emergency use. The first "grid tower" was erected near Edinburgh on 14 July 1928, and work was completed in September 1933, ahead of schedule and on budget. The grid was created with 6,400 kilometres (4,000 mi) of cables – mostly overhead – linking the 122 most efficient power stations. National Grid helicopter inspecting overhead cables in Greater Manchester The 1926 Act created the Central Electricity Board, which set up the UK's first synchronised, nationwide AC grid, running at 132 kV, 50 Hz. Weir consulted Merz, and the result was the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926, which recommended that a "national gridiron" supply system be created. In 1925, the British government asked Lord Weir, a Glaswegian industrialist, to solve the problem of Britain's inefficient and fragmented electricity supply industry. The rest of the country, however, continued to use a patchwork of small supply networks. This opened in 1901, and by 1912 had developed into the largest integrated power system in Europe. The first use of this system in the United Kingdom was by Charles Merz, of the Merz & McLellan consulting partnership, at his Neptune Bank Power Station near Newcastle upon Tyne. ( February 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Įlectricity pylons in a suburban area of Pudsey, West YorkshireĪt the end of the 19th century, Nikola Tesla established the principles of three-phase high-voltage electric power distribution while he was working for Westinghouse in the United States. ![]() Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. National Grid plc is the transmission system operator for the whole GB grid. Infrastructure connecting offshore wind farms to the grid is owned by offshore transmission owners. In Scotland the grid is owned by ScottishPower Transmission in the south, and by SSE in the north. Since the privatisation of the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1990, the National Grid in England and Wales is owned by National Grid plc. There are undersea interconnectors to the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. The National Grid is a wide area synchronous grid operating at 50 hertz. It does not cover Northern Ireland, which is part of the Irish single electricity market. The network serves the majority of Great Britain and some of the surrounding islands. The National Grid is the high-voltage electric power transmission network serving Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations, and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere on the grid can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere. For the UK Ordnance Survey National Grid for mapping co-ordinates in Great Britain, see Ordnance Survey National Grid. This article is about the power grid in Great Britain.
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