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Storing Electricity in the national grid?

715 views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  wilko1985 
#1 ·
OK so the electricity is made then sent to your house, basically. Is it stored somewhere along the way to be used later? Or not? How does it work? Cheers. My main question is, can you store the electricity somehow to be used later.
 
#5 ·
I work in the electricity distribution industry, mate.

The answer is not as simple as you'd imagine. We can't really store energy very well....yet. The electricity we use is alternating current electricity, and there is no way of storing this...at least on a large scale.

There are a few ways we can kinda store energy but they are rather primitive and only supplement generation at peak times. An example of this is the Dinorwig pumped storage hydroelectric scheme where electricity is used at times of low usage to pump water up to a mountain reservoir. At times of peak usage, water is released from at the dam and powers the hydroelectric power station, generating extra power to supplement that generated at normal power stations fuelled by coal and gas.

Things are changing rapidly, though. There's major investment, not only by National Grid, but also the smaller distribution companies, into DC electricity conversion and storage....so basically massive batteries. As battery technology improves (which it rapidly is, thanks in part to the electric vehicle industry) and renewable energy advances and grows in popularity, we may well move away from a 'national grid' back towards local energy cooperatives that generate and store energy for use in their own areas.
 
#6 ·
I work in the electricity distribution industry, mate.

The answer is not as simple as you'd imagine. We can't really store energy very well....yet. The electricity we use is alternating current electricity, and there is no way of storing this...at least on a large scale.

There are a few ways we can kinda store energy but they are rather primitive and only supplement generation at peak times. An example of this is the Dinorwig pumped storage hydroelectric scheme where electricity is used at times of low usage to pump water up to a mountain reservoir. At times of peak usage, water is released from at the dam and powers the hydroelectric power station, generating extra power to supplement that generated at normal power stations fuelled by coal and gas.

Things are changing rapidly, though. There's major investment, not only by National Grid, but also the smaller distribution companies, into DC electricity conversion and storage....so basically massive batteries. As battery technology improves (which it rapidly is, thanks in part to the electric vehicle industry) and renewable energy advances and grows in popularity, we may well move away from a 'national grid' back towards local energy cooperatives that generate and store energy for use in their own areas.
So, does the energy that's made in the electricity power plant ( or whatever it's called ) all have to be used or it just gets "thrown away" somehow because it can't be stored?
 
#14 ·
Wow, an intelligent and interesting conversation on here! I'm amazed! Spod is spot on, I work in the electrical engineering industry but more in the control and automation sector rather than distribution. If you're ever in the North Wales area, go to Llanberis and have a day in the 'Electric Mountain' and you can see for yourself the Dinorwig scheme.
 
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