ELECTRICITY 1: Generating The First Process

Electricity is vital to our modern life due to its importance in powering our lights and appliances at home. In the process of generating electricity, there is a need for a driving force which is the primary energy. What is the source of energy? Energy is the ability to do work and energy can not be created nor destroy but can be transferred from one form to another. With this expression generating electricity become easy but there must be a source of energy to activate the generation of the said electric supply.

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Pixnoic:Electricity Tower Energy Sky

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In the process of producing electricity to the consumer, the first process is Generation. How do we generate this so-called electricity? Follow me closely and get the understanding of the generation of electricity.

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History

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In the history of electricity, Micheal Faraday must be the first man to mention due to his discovery. He's the one that discovered the fundamental principles of electricity generation in 1820sand early 1830s which is by kinetic energy(motion) of a loop of wire(solenoid) between the poles of a magnet. Using power transformer the central power stations became economized practical by the development of alternating current. 40years later the coupling of the dynamo to the hydraulic turbine brought out commercial electricity production by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

With this little history about the discovery of electricity let's check the sources of energy for the generation of electricity.

According to Wikipedia.org, it was recorded that the first power plants used water power.

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The first power plants used water power or coal, and today various energy sources are used, such as nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric and wind generators.

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Methods of Generating Electricity

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Source of energy determines the types of methods electricity is being generated. The source of energy can be, natural gas and coal when this is used this is thermal/combustion power because it is generated by the application of heat.
Another source of energy is a nuclear power which is by nuclear fission of element called Uranium, this makes use of heat for boiling water which rotates the steam turbine. There is sunlight(solar) which can be converted to electricity and it is called Photovoltaics, we have rotation energy by the wind to generate wind power, rotating water wheel by running water to generate Hydropower and Magmatic heat boils underground water to rotate the steam turbine which generates Geothermal Power.

All mentioned sources above can be further classified into two categories which are Resources Energy and Renewable Energy.

These two sources categories are converted to electricity with less loss of energy.

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Nigeria As A Case Study

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Nigeria is blessed with mineral resources(Natural Resources) like Coal and Crude Oil. In generating electricity in Nigeria, there are two main types of power plants.

1. Thermal or Fossil Fuel Power Plants

2. Hydro-Electric Power Plants

The above-mentioned types are both in operation in the country but Thermal Power Plants dominates with 81% to 19% of HydroElectric according to world bank collection of development indicators.

This Thermal Power Plants further subdivided into two which are Natural gas Fired and Coal Fired.

How?

Generating electricity via natural gas-fired is simply by making use of steam generation unit, in which fossil fuels are burned inside a boiler to heat up the water and turn it to steam which thereafter turns a turbine to generate electricity.

Nigeria has 23 Natural gas-fired Power station, 1 proposed natural gas-fired in Benin city and 1 Coal Station in Kogi State.
Also, 4 HydroElectric Station and 4 Proposed/Under Construction.

In the history of power stations in the world Three Gorges Dam (HydroElectric Power Station) is the largest with 22,500MW located in China.

The largest Nuclear Power is Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Japan at 7,965MW.

Considering the huge environmental impacts which are negative that thermal power plants can cause to the life of people in the country and even the aquatic lives, it is advisable to employ modern technologies to reduce this harmful effect on lives.

Example of Harmful Effect: water pollution and greenhouse gases

Solution: Introduce Gas Turbine combined cycle (GTCC), Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) with this life will be convenient for human and aquatic lives.

The next process in the production of electricity is Transmission
The transmission system is simply the means of transmitting power from the generating station to different load centers. Transmission process comes with the sets of wires that carry the generated electrical power from the first process which is Generation to the Substation which will deliver the supply to the consumer/users.
Before the transmitting power gets to the consumer it will be stepped up to several thousand volts by power transformer to the transmission line.

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Transmission Line and its Circuit

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As electrical transmission system is the power transmitter via cable/wire, the transmission line can be categories or group based on its Circuit

1. Single-Circuit Transmission Line: This carries cables(Conductors) for only one circuit. When considering three-phase system (R, Y, and B), each tower supports three conductors. Check the image display.

1. Double-Circuit Transmission Line: This carries cables (conductor) for two circuits. Considering three-phase system each tower supports and insulates six conductors.

Wikimedia:

In some country like Germany moat power lines with voltages above 100KV are implemented as double, quadruple or in rare cases even hextuple power line as the right of way are rare.

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Transmission Line and its Structure

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The structure of transmission line can be considered using steel towers, single pole towers, single pole steel, H-Frames. [ H-Frames and Single-pole are very common in Nigeria). Check out the images i took this evening:

The structure of transmission line is determined by the voltages the conductor is going to transmit to the substation or consumer.

The voltage transmission is divided into 2: Low voltage transmission system and high-voltage transmission system.

The low voltage transmission system ranges between 161KV to 115KB system or 69KV to 23KV. When considering 161KV to a 115KV system with transmission line structure a single pole structure between 70 and 95 feet tall should be used.
On the other hand, the power range between 69KV and 23KV is the transmission of power to distribution substations and in considering the structure, single pole towers, constructed of either steel or wood with feet ranges from 50-70 tall.

The High-Voltage System ranges between 230KV, 345KV, 400KV(DC) and 500KV(DC). In structure consideration steel lattices wooden H-Frames or Single pole steel are used.

In conclusion, the arrangement in the production of electricity comes with processes which serve as control and safety precautions following the danger in electricity. The Electricity II will be centered on Distribution process which is the third process in Electricity Production.

With this review, I drop my pen on generation and transmission as the first and second process respectively in Production of Electricity. Watch out for the next process.

Thank you for reading.

From,

Engr.Samest

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References

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1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation

2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_station

3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_energy_storage

4. The Shortage of Natural Gas for Power Generation in Nigeria: Counting the Costs". Premium Times. Premium Times. Retrieved 20 July 2017. By Ali Yusuuf

5. http://naturalgas.org/overview/uses-electrical/

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