Our interstate highway system is a convenient metaphor for the electricity transmission and distribution system, especially given the two often run in parallel. Each of these components plays an important role in maintaining the reliable operation of the grid. The system relies upon a web of step-up and step-down transformers, substations, breakers, and switches. The transmission system consists of much more than just poles and wires. The transmission and distribution system connects these power plants to the areas where electricity is ultimately used. Unless you have solar panels on your property, the electricity you use at your home or business comes from power plants located far from your home. In each instance, the output is the same: either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) electricity that can be used in homes and businesses. Solar energy functions differently, by collecting sunlight and converting that energy into electrical energy on the face of solar panels. Wind energy uses the power of the wind to spin a turbine, geothermal power uses the earth's heat to create steam to spin a turbine, and hydropower harnesses flowing water to spin a turbine. Many of the original renewable resources functioned similarly: by finding ways to spin a turbine to generate electricity. For instance, coal-fired power plants burn coal to produce steam to spin a turbine, natural gas-fired power plants burn natural gas, and nuclear power plants use the heat generated by a nuclear reaction. This is how conventional power plants still operate. In fact, transmission line or generator outages in one part of an interconnect can cause cascading blackouts to occur hundreds or thousands of miles away, as occurred during the 2003 Northeast blackout.īefore the advent of renewable energy resources, the primary type of electrical production was creating steam to spin a turbine, generating electricity. As a result, if you live in Boston, where EnergySage is located, you are electrically connected to people as far away as Florida. In fact, the Eastern and Western Interconnects even extend into neighboring countries. In the US, the grid is split into three sections in the contiguous states: the Eastern Interconnect, the Western Interconnect, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Grid operators, such as the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland Regional Transmission Operator (PJM RTO), maintain this balance through a mix of market awareness and insights plus forecasts of weather, demand, and supply, to provide low-cost and reliable electricity service. Learn more about how to use custom grids.Keeping the grid functioning requires a delicate balance between supply and demand and a highly integrated series of components throughout the country. One example of a custom grid is a township and range grid, shown below. The polygon or line feature acts as the grid lines, and the custom grid allows you to label those lines outside the map frame. Custom gridĪ custom grid is based on a polygon or line feature in a map. Learn more about how to use reference grids. They are used to visually divide the map, independent of the coordinate system, to allow simple location referencing. Reference gridĪ reference grid is a network of columns and rows used to divide a map into equal-area rectangles. It is used to show locations in a UTM coordinate system and display MGRS-specific information, such as 100,000-meter grid designators. Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) grid is a special type of measured grid. Learn more about how to use measured grids. They are used to show location using projected coordinates. Measured gridĪ measured grid is a network of evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines used to identify locations on a map. They are used to show location in geographic coordinates (degrees of latitude and longitude). Graticules are lines showing parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude for the earth. Grids are used to show coordinates or divide the map frame. There are five types of grids that can be added to a map frame: graticules, measured grids, MGRS grids, reference grids, and custom grids.
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