Electric Power Concepts

Prof. Sid Suryanarayanan

Div. of Engg., Colorado School of Mines
ssuryana@mines.edu
http://www.mines.edu/~ssuryana

Outline of presentation
How is electricity produced?
Or How does a power plant work?

How is electricity delivered?

Or What is the electric grid?

How is electricity used?

Or How different are electric loads?

Each topic will be a 15 presentation

Handouts and web links will be provided

Introduction
Raising student interest in electric
power is important
Almost 50% of the power industry
workforce will be eligible to retire in less
than 5 years
Electric power engineering relies strongly
on concepts of mathematics and science
Pre-college students have to be motivated
in Math and Sci. to maintain US
competitiveness

Introduction
Studies indicate many students lose
interest in Math & Sci. in high school
and middle school years
To capture the interest of K-12
students, we must present electric
power concepts in eye-catching
modes
Simulations, applets, interactive
modules, etc.

Electric power systems - a brief

history
1879: Edison perfects work on
electric light
1882: Edison opens Pearl St.
Station, NYC

Picture taken directly from [2]

DC generators ( dynamos )
30 kW load of 110 V incandescent
lighting
59 customers spread over 1 sq. mile

Picture taken directly from [3]

Electric power systems - a brief

history
1885: Stanley develops transformer and installs
AC distribution system in MA
More attractive option than DC

1888: Tesla invents 2 induction and sync

motors
Patents purchased by Westinghouse

1889: first operational AC transmission line in US

1 4 kV 21 km (13 miles) b/w Portland and Oregon City

1893: First 3 line in US

12 km (7.5 miles) at 2.3 kV

20th century
US NAE names electrification most
important engineering achievement of 20th C

All pictures taken directly from [2]

Electric power systems 21st C

2005: Energy Policy Act
Distributed Generation

2007: Energy Independence and Security

Act
Smart Grid Initiative

2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment

Act
$$ for Smart Grid projects

Abundant opportunities for education, jobs,

& careers for power engineers of future
Catch them young, watch them grow !

How is electricity produced?

Electricity is produced from other
sources
coal, natural gas, wind, nuclear, hydro

Typically, electricity is generated in a

power plant
Depending on type of fuel used, power
plants operate differently
We will look at the operation of a
thermal power plant

How is electricity produced?

Thermal power plant uses steam as
the main driver to produce electricity
Coal, nuclear, geothermal are all
thermal power plants
Let us see how a coal-fired thermal
power plant works

How is electricity produced?

Coal-fired thermal power plant uses
coal as the fuel
Sulfur content in coal determines its
cleanness (lower Sulfur
cleaner coal)

Coal is brought to the power plant from

the mines via trains and stored in silos
When required, coal is crushed into a
fine powder in coal mills
This helps the coal burn efficiently
Information on slide adapted from [4]

How is electricity produced?

Finely crushed coal is then brought to a
boiler where it is fired at 3000o F
The high energy from burning this coal
is used to convert water to
superheated steam
Water circulates in pipes within the boiler
and becomes steam

The steam, which has high energy, is

now brought to a turbine
Information on slide adapted from [4]

How is electricity produced?

As the steam passes through the turbine, it
moves the blades on the turbine
This happens at high speeds

As this happens, steam cools off and needs

to be reconverted to water for use again
The cooled steam in the pipe is then passed
through cold water
The steam in the pipes cool further to become
water
The cold water outside the pipe becomes steam
and is let off through smoke stacks
Information on slide adapted from [4]

How is electricity produced?

The blades of the turbine are connected to
a shaft that spins an electric generator
This is where mechanical energy of the shaft is
converted to electricity
Generator has a moving part (rotor) and a
stationary part (stator) essentially an
electromagnet
As the rotor moves within the stator, an electric
current is produced
Thus, electricity is produced and awaits delivery

Information on slide adapted from [4]

How is electricity produced?

Picture taken directly from [5]

How is electricity delivered?

Electricity produced by generators are at lower
voltages

Typically, power plants are located far from load

centers (cities, etc.)
Power needs to travel long distances over
transmission lines to reach cities
To do so, the voltage of electricity must be raised
Imagine voltage as an equivalent of pressure;
electricity as water; and transmission lines as pipes
Higher pressure is needed to push water through
pipes over long distances
An electrical device called transformer performs the
task of raising the voltage of electricity at the power
plant

How is electricity delivered?

A 345000 Volts generator step-up transformer

Picture taken directly from [6]

How is electricity delivered?

Through the power grid (aka network)
3 large interconnections of transmission
lines and other components crisscrossing
North America
The power grid has been called the
most complex man made machine

How is electricity delivered?

The US electric grid

Source: Technology Review, Jul 01 [7]

How is electricity delivered?

WHY INTERCONNECT?

WECC

Source: DoE Distributed Energy Program [8]

How is electricity delivered?

Advantages of interconnection
Ability to supply loads from a combination of
generators across the nation
Since electricity travels almost at the speed of light,
we can get electrical power produced by a
generator in NYC delivered to Golden CO (a
distance of ~1800 miles) in 100th of 1 second!

Drawback of interconnection
Because the system is fully interconnected, any bad
event in one part of the system has the potential to
show up across the system (cascade)

How is electricity delivered?

Applet developed by Univ. of Illinois
for introducing power grid to K-12
students
Interactive module with real time
simulation screens
Accompanying lessons and games
available for teachers on the web site

http://tcip.mste.illinois.edu/lessons/ThePowerGrid.pdf

How is electricity delivered?

http://tcip.mste.illinois.edu/applet2.php
Educational objectives met by applet

[1]:

Students learn how energy is transferred from

generators to loads via the power grid through
transmission lines, substations, and
transformers
Benefits and drawback of interconnections
Power and energy is conserved at all places
Fuel type affects power ratings, controllability
and environmental impact
Lines can carry only up to their rated values;
When excess power is forced through lines, they
disconnect

How is electricity consumed?

The power grid transfers electricity from far away
generators using a high voltage network of
components
This electricity is still at high voltage that is not
readily usable by homes and buildings
Distribution systems
High voltage electricity must be converted to lower
voltage electricity
Again, a transformer will do the job of stepping-down
voltage too!
Voltage is stepped-down in several stages
Loads such as TVs, Nintendo Wii consume electricity
that is delivered

How is electricity consumed?

Transformers

Picture taken directly from [9]

Picture taken directly from [11]

Picture taken directly from [10]

How is electricity consumed?

Different loads in different places have
different characteristics
Let us look at some electrical loads and see
how they behave
Before that, we must understand how we are
billed by the utility for the electricity we
consume
Cost of 1 unit of electric energy ($/kWh) x {Power
rating of device (kW) x time of use (h)}

Electricity used is measured using a energy

meter or kilowatthour meter

How is electricity consumed?

Applet developed by Univ. of Illinois
for introducing power and energy
use at home to K-12 students
Interactive module with real time
simulation screens
Accompanying lessons and games
available for teachers on the web site

http://tcip.mste.illinois.edu/lessons/PowerandEnergy.pdf

How is electricity consumed?

http://tcip.mste.illinois.edu/applet1.php
Educational objectives met by applet

[1]:

Students learn that energy is delivered from

distribution network to the various home loads
Electrical loads vary in power demand
Energy is power used over time
Energy is metered and priced over time in units
of kWh
Energy and money can be saved by using more
efficient loads (like E-star)

The Smart Grid Initiative

Picture taken directly from [12]

Acknowledgements
Prof. Thomas Overbye, UIUC
Prof. Zeb Tate, Univ. of Toronto
Ms. Jana Sebastik, UIUC

References
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

J. E. Tate, T. J. Overbye, J. Sebestik, G. C. Reese, Interactive Lessons for Pre-University Power Education,
IEEE. Trans Pwr Sys, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 824-830, Aug 2008
C. L. Sulzberger, Triumph of AC: from pearl street to Niagara, IEEE Power & Energy Magazine, v. 1, no. 3,
pp. 64-67, May 2003
Smithsonian Institution. Powering a generation: Views of Pearl street station [Online] {Available}
http://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/past/pearl.htm (Accessed Jun 09)
Xcel Energy. Welcome to Energy Classroom [Online] {Available} http://www.energyclassroom.com/
(Accessed Jun 09)
Tenn Valley Authority. [Online] {Available} http://www.tva.gov/power/images/coalart.gif (Accessed Jun 09)
Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc. [Online] {Available}
http://www.meppi.com/Products/Transformers/PublishingImages/M7039%20OPPD%20NCPS
%20345%20kV.JPG (Accessed Jun 09)
Technology Review. A smarter power grid. [Online] {Available}
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/12474/ (Accessed Jun 2009)
US Dept. of Energy. Distributed energy program: US power grids. [Online] {Available}
http://www.eere.energy.gov/de/us_power_grids.html (Accessed Jun 2009)
How Stuff Works. How power grids work [Online] {Available}
http://science.howstuffworks.com/power5.htm (Accessed Jun 2009)
Pauwels Transformers Inc. Three phase pad mount distribution transformer [Online] {Available}
http://pauwels.us/images/ThreePhasePadMountDistribution.png (Accessed Jun 2009)
Big Rivers Group Jackson Energy Purchase Corp. [Online] {Available}
http://jpenergy.apogee.net/foe/graphics/tdsd.jpg (Accessed Jun 2009)
US Dept. of Energy. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability [Online] {Available}
http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/smartgrid_diagram.pdf (Accessed Jun 2009)

This slide is intentionally left blank

Handouts
IEEE transactions paper by Zeb Tate
and Tom Overbye
Lessons on power grid and home
energy use from applets
Accompanying TCIP slides for
information (
http://tcip.mste.uiuc.edu/TCIPEducation-NSFReview2009-Zeb.ppt )