Power distribution

“ The leading factors which make for economy in electricity supply are the magnitude of the output, the load factor, and the diversity factor, also the situation of the power house, the means of distribution, and the provision of suitable, trustworthy and efficient plant. These factors become more favourable the larger the area and the greater and more varied the demand to be supplied. ”

“ The most feasible way of obtaining power by electricity to-day seems to be through distribution of the current from a central point of supply; but it is not impossible that a battery may yet be produced which, furnishing electricity as cheaply as a machine, will remove the need of distribution, and at the same time greatly enlarge its field of usefulness. ”

“ Concluding, as we do, that the franchise has not expired, but is still subsisting, we come to the question whether it is limited to the distribution of electric current for lighting purposes, or includes its distribution for power and heat. ”

“ The logical conclusion from a careful study of the producer-gas power situation is that the time is not distant when financial interests in power production will be directed toward the centralization of the producer-gas power plant at the mines and the distribution of the energy developed either by high-voltage long-distance electrical transmission or by pipe systems for conveying the gas. ”

“ No mechanical method of distributing power, so as to pull trains along at a distance from a stationary engine, has been successful on our railways; but now that electricity has given us new and unrivaled means for the distribution of power, the problem requires reconsideration. ”

“ Use of Alternators.—The great increase in the application of electricity for supplying power and for lighting purposes in industry, commerce, and in the home, is due chiefly to the economy of distribution of alternating current. ”

“ The nature of the electric utilities industry is such that about 90 per cent of all power generation and distribution is intrastate in character, and most of the States have developed their own regulatory systems as to certificates of convenience, rates, and profits of such utilities. ”

“ When it comes to transmission of electricity across the power grid, so that when one region is experiencing an electricity shortfall and people may suffer blackouts, another region can pick up the slack -- another region of the nation can pick up the slack and send the energy across the grid. ”

“ By means of electricity the work, not only of factories, but also of the home and the farm may be done in any place where electricity can be installed. We must bear in mind that electricity is never a source of power, but is only the agent that carries power to the user. The source of all electric power is either steam or water, produced by water-wheels, turbines, steam-engines or gas-engines. The economical way to furnish electric power is to establish central power plants, and electricity may be conveyed from them for many miles. ”

“ Remember, in estimating the size of your plant for light, heat, and power, that it does not have to be big enough to use all the devices at one time. Also remember, that two water horsepower to one electrical horsepower is a very liberal allowance; and that a generator working under one-half or two-thirds capacity at normal loads will require less attention than a machine constantly being worked above its capacity. Therefore, let your generator be of liberal size, because the difference in cost between a 5 and 10 kilowatt machine is not in proportion to their capacity. ”

“ By generating on a large scale for a wide variety of demands the promoters of the new scheme calculated to be able to offer electrical energy in bulk to electricity supply companies and local authorities at prices substantially below their costs of production at separate stations, and also to provide them and power users with electricity at rates which would compete with other forms of power. ”

“ While the maximum investment in transmission conductors may be properly limited in the way just stated, it by no means follows that this maximum limit should be reached in every case. In the varying requirements of actual cases, the problem may be to deliver a fixed amount of power at the least possible cost, or to deliver the largest possible amount of power at a cost per unit under that of development at the point of use. ”

“ But among all these many departments of research, these many branches of industry, new and old, which are being rapidly expanded, there is one dominating all others in importance — one which is of the greatest significance for the comfort and welfare, not to say for the existence, of mankind, and that is the electrical transmission of power. ”

“ Since we are going into this work as pioneers, we shall have to be dependent upon our own efforts for the production of the electrical apparatus, so as to be able, with our home-made factory, to provide the power, the heat and the electricity. ”

“ Owing to the high relative cost of electric power when generated in small amounts and the great advantages of generating it in proximity to coal mines and waterfalls, the supply of electric power in bulk to small towns and manufacturing districts has become a great feature in modern electrical engineering. ”

“ If the transmission system is devoted to the operation of one or more factories the required power may not vary more than twenty-five per cent during the hours of daily use; but if a system of general electrical supply is to be operated, the maximum load will usually be somewhere between twice and four times as great as the average load for each twenty-four hours. ”

“ The final, practical questions as to conductors in electrical transmission relate to their cost per kilowatt of maximum working capacity, and per kilowatt hour of delivered energy. If the cost of conductors per kilowatt of generator capacity is greater than that of all the remaining equipment, it is doubtful whether the transmission will pay. If fixed charges on the conductors more than offset the difference in the cost of energy per kilowatt hour at the points of development and delivery, it is certain that the generating plant should be located where the power is wanted. ”

“ Electric power may move freely through the line up to the line's capacity. Ordinarily, however, the energy generated by each system is sufficient to supply the requirements of the system's customers and no substantial amount of power flows through the interconnection. It is only at the times when one of the connected utilities is unable for some reason to produce sufficient power to meet its customers' needs that the deficiency may be supplied by power that automatically flows through the interconnection from the other utility. ”

“ The agent that appears to be the most suitable, and that gives promise of utility in other directions as well, is electricity. Distributed from a central source of supply, all the advantages of a safe and convenient power would be obtained, without any of the disadvantages attendant upon the use of other forms of energy. ”

“ Of the light and heat, she will use the lion's share; and for the power, she will discover heretofore undreamed-of uses. So she must be a full partner when it comes to deciding how much electricity they need. ”

“ Among the important losses that have to be reckoned with in every system of distributing motive power from a central station—whether by steam or by electricity, water, or compressed air—losses must occur in the mains by which the power generated is transferred from the point of production to that of consumption. ”

“ The ideal condition would be when a power station is working at its normal maximum output continuously night and day. This would give a load-factor of 100%, and represents the ultimate ideal towards which the electrical engineer strives by increasing the area of his operations and consequently also the load and the variety of the overlapping demands. It is only by combining a large number of demands which fluctuate at different times—that is by achieving a high diversity factor—that the supplier of electricity can hope to approach the ideal of continuous and steady output. ”

“ If, for example, the constant-current transmission line is designed to convert into heat 5 per cent of the maximum amount of energy that will be delivered to it per second—that is, to lose 5 per cent of its power at maximum load—then, when the power which the line receives drops to one-half of its maximum, the percentage of loss will rise to 10, because 0.05 ÷ 0.5 = 0.1. ”

“ A pure lighting service tends toward the larger ratio between the average and maximum load, while a larger motor capacity along with the lamps, tends to reduce the ratio. Furthermore, by far the greater part of the energy output of an electrical supply system during each twenty-four hours must be delivered between noon and midnight. ”

“ If a saving of fuel, measured by the available flow of water during those hours when it can be devoted directly to electrical supply, were its only advantage, the number of cases in which this power could be utilized at a profit would be relatively small. ”

“ But when the power is obtained from a single stationary source we do away with the dead weight of the power equipment on the car, and secure the very vital advantage that the capacity of the stationary source need not be so great as the sum of the maximum demands. ”

“ In the public supply of electric power in this country, the usual practice is to use alternating-current generators in the power stations, and to transmit the power at a high voltage to substations. The substation plant reduces the pressure to a value suitable to the consumer, and in many instances also converts the alternating current into direct current. From the substations the power is distributed to the consumers. ”

“ It is only by the alternating system of distribution that we can realize this essential condition of economy. We have here no such limit to the electrical pressure in the generating apparatus as in the direct-current system, and through the medium of the converter it becomes possible to vary the two elements of electrical energy—current volume and pressure—to suit the most widely differing applications. ”

“ If, through lack of water or inability to store water or energy at times when it is not wanted, generators cannot be operated at full capacity during the average number of hours assumed above, the item of interest and depreciation per unit of delivered energy must be higher than that computed. ”

“ The company, needing electric power for its own use, has developed a system deriving its power from a point about thirty miles from the city, where a small stream plunges down the sea coast from the mountain range that runs along it. ”

“ We must now consider the question of cost of current, and here we are in many cases up against a difficulty, for unless current can be obtained at a reasonable price the use of electricity in the household is not a paying proposition. Speaking without inside knowledge of the workings of the power companies, it would appear that they are greatly to blame that electricity is not in more general use. ”

“ On the other hand, appellees say that the tax is laid upon the generation of electrical energy as a distinct act of production, and without regard to its subsequent transmission; that the process of generation is one of converting mechanical energy into electrical form ”

“ They state that it has all major refinements, operating on any fuel, producing electricity at any desired voltage up to five million, any chosen cyclic rate from direct current to one thousand megacycles, and any amperage up to one thousand, its maximum power output being fifty kilowatts, limited by the current-carrying capacity of the outputs. ”

“ The power generated in such stations, while representing an enormous total, is by no means the larger proportion of the total power generated throughout the country. The factors determining the economic load for the small plant, however, are the same as in a large, and in general the statements made relative to the question are equally applicable. ”

“ If the public understood that electricity is Energy and that it is transmutable at will {258} into Power or Light or Heat, they would better realize the possibilities of the future in town and country, and all that the proper organization and control of Energy means to them. They would at once resolve that the power of government must not be divorced from the Power which will run in the electrical mains of the future, and by the aid of which we can transform the face of our land. ”

“ The capacity of the generating machinery must be sufficient for the heaviest overloads which may occur, and it must be operated continuously for 24 hours a day in the majority of central stations supplying current for lighting and power. ”

“ For a shop on a small scale, wherever it may be, it is cleaner, less troublesome and cheaper to use electric power than it is to use gas or steam power.
Should you intend to operate on a very large scale it may then be to your advantage to look up a place where there is water power, or if your industry is one that calls for the large use of electricity you would then be justified in moving to Niagara Falls, or some other place where there are great hydro-electric plants. ”

“ Further applications are now being studied, but the cost of direct conversion appears too great to permit its general use for electric power in the near future. Direct techniques will be used first where their special advantages outweigh higher cost. ”

“ Thus they will shortly be in complete control of the hydro-electric and superpower field in America and controlling the power they will control every phase of modern civilization. For electricity is the power of the future. For the home, for industry, transportation, mining and for agriculture—electricity from now on is the one absolute essential. He who controls the power controls all.
Hence the commanding need for public ownership in this larger field. ”