In our houses we have many artifacts that works with electricity, like the TV, the radio or some other stuff. But do we know how the electricity gets to our houses?
First, it pass through the generating station. Generating stations are where huge amounts of power are first created. At these generating stations, heat from the burning of fossil fuels is used to boil large amounts of water, which produces steam. This steam is then forced through the blades of a turbine, causing it to turn. The spinning turbine is attached to magnets that are inside a generator. This process transforms the energy created by the spinning turbine into electrical energy.
Electricity leaves the generating station and travels through a web of 500,000- and 230,000-volt transmission lines that connect these stations to key distribution points. These distribution points are called receiving stations.
From the receiving stations, power travels through 69,000-volt sub-transmission lines to distribution substations. These substations usually serve a four-square-mile-area and several thousand customers. At the substations, power is transformed from 69,000 volts to 12,000 volts and is split among several circuits. Each circuit serves as many as 600 residential customers. In newer neighborhoods, 12,000-volt circuits are underground. In older neighborhoods, overhead lines still are in use.
For underground circuits, the system uses transformers mounted on concrete pads at ground level. For overhead circuits, transformers are mounted on poles. These transformers convert the power to 110/220 volts for delivery to homes, schools, hospitals and small businesses. The 110-volt power is used to operate smaller appliances while the 200-volt power operates larger appliances like ovens and clothes dryers. After power leaves the distribution station, it goes through one more transformer before it can be used in your home.
