National Grid

• What is the National grid?

  The national grid is a web of wires that covers all of Britain and supplies electricity from power stations to homes everywhere
• The national grid uses a high potential difference and low current
• How is it sustained?

  -Demand changes overtime - There are predicted times for highest demand such as when people wake up - return from school/work ext

  -To combat this power stations run well below their max capacity to ensure they have constant spare capacity to cope with the high demand even if another station shuts down

  -Lots of smaller stations are kept on standby as a backup
• Potential difference is changed via transformers. More info on transformers in a seperate tab
• Step up transformers role is to increase the voltage of the alternating current from the power station to the distribution network.
• They work via a 2 coils wrapped on different sides of an iron core. The alternating current induces the other coil and gives it an alternating current reducing the current and increasing potential difference which helps with efficiency of the grid