Top Things to Know About Electricity Grids

If you live in Nigeria, the phrase “the national grid has collapsed” would be something you encounter a couple of times yearly or in the past couple of months, almost biweekly. Notwithstanding the frequent use of the term, many may not know much about electricity grids and the factors contributing to system collapse.

This article highlights some things you should know about electricity grids.

• What is an electricity grid? Some people think of the grid as an enormous transformer with a central control switch. In contrast to this thought, an electricity grid is an electricity distribution system consisting of power plants, substations, transmission lines, transformers, and power lines that enable the supply of energy from the generation plants to users.
• Power plants are the sources of electricity supply; it could be a hydroelectric dam for hydropower generation. It could also be an array of solar panels for solar power generation. Secondly, substations essentially take electricity of a particular voltage and transform it into another voltage. Substations are typically required when power generated has to travel long distances. Well, of course, we all know what a transformer is and what it looks like. But here is what it does. A transformer is an electrical device that alternates the electricity voltage – either up or down. They help convert the electricity supplied by power plants into a voltage suitable for consumers. Finally, power lines are the cables that convey electricity from the point of production to where they are used.
• Electricity grids operate within certain limits, i.e. stability limit in line with voltage, current, and frequency. A grid system experiences voltage instability when there is a disturbance causing a gradual and uncontrollable decline in voltage.
• An electricity grid collapse can occur due to mechanical and non-mechanical reasons. For a collapse due to mechanical reasons, an increase in load could count as a factor. When consumers’ load demand increases above the available power in the system, a collapse could occur. Here, the power system is pressured more than its capacity; this is risky for the system. Generator failure is another factor that could lead to a voltage collapse, especially for generators carrying a huge load. If preventive measures are not employed, the system may experience collapse (this is often the case with Nigeria’s electricity grid).
• A non-mechanical cause of grid collapse may be due to weather-related occurrences such as lightning, heavy rainfalls, floods, or severe storms. Also, the vandalisation of transmission infrastructure could cause a system failure.
• An electricity grid collapse could be in two forms, namely – a total system collapse and a partial system collapse. A total system collapse refers to a complete blackout, while a partial collapse refers to the shutdown of a section of the grid.