Introduction to Power generation
In today’s blog, we are going to discuss the history of power generation, in which we will talk about the Early stages of generation, Modern power generation, and War of currents
Early stages of generation
Power is power; even ancient men needed it. Because they knew how to utilize their day in good sunlight, but they have no idea how to utilize nighttime because there was no light availability. Yes, I know you think that moonlight is present, but it is not sufficient for precision.
Years by years, decades by decade’s man started developing techniques to utilize the energy available in nature in many ways. After looking at crickets, the man realized the importance of light at midnight.
In about 600 BC, the ancient Greek people discovered that rubbing fur on amber can cause the attraction between two. At that time, they have no idea that this attraction is known as static electricity.
In the early 20s, to be precise, in 1930, the roman discovered an early form of battery which produces light at the sited during night time. The copper cylinder contains an iron rod surrounded with unknown electrolytes and sealed by an asphalt plug. This whole assembly is covered with a clay jar. Similar technology has been found in the archeological digging near the Bagdad.
Electrostatic generator’s classification of material such as conductors and insulators like this many inventions happened during the 17th century. This changed the face of power in history.
In 1600 an English physician named William Gilbert used the Latin word electrius to describe a force exerted by a certain substance when rubbed against each other. A few years later, Thomas Brown, an English scientist, wrote a book based on investigating the work of William Gilbert. He used the word electricity for the first time. And after that, everything started evolving.
The above few paragraphs are just an outline regarding the concept of power for ancient peoples.
Modern power generation
For the first time in history, Benjamin Franklin conducted his kite experiment Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research on electricity and proved that light is a form of electricity by his famous kite experiment. This experiment helped him to invent a lightning rod.
In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the first battery, and because of him, the transmission of electricity by linking positive and negative charge connectors and driving electricity through them got possible.
We all know the great Michael Faraday. His creations changed the entire history of electricity. In 1831 he invented the electric dynamo which is also known as a generator nowadays. A generator is the machine that converts mechanical power into electrical power, and due to this invention, the generation of electricity got possible.
Coming back to our topic, in the early 1800s when the alternating current is not yet invented direct current was the only source of power. As the DC system is less efficient for fuel consumption and distribution, the power generated was only available for businesses and not accessible for the public body.
Coal-powered steam engines are there, but they were costly to run, and distance transmission was impossible; at the same time, hydroelectricity is the most utilized form of power by using water mills used to transmit the power for small villages.
Still, the power transmission and generation crisis was not solved, in 1871 zenobe gramme first invented a generator that is powerful enough to produce power for industry.
In England, William lord amstrong designed and built the hydroelectric power plant. He got this idea from water lakes at his estate; he used the water from lakes to power Siemens dynamos and generated the power supplied for his house.
War of currents
At pearl street station in New York in, 1882 Edison established the electric lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area, which continued to work till 1890 because it was destroyed by fire.
In 1890 the world’s first coal-fired power station was known as Edison electric light station in London. This was also available to the public. This was the project by Edison and organized by Edward Johnson.
On the other hand, George Westinghouse invested in the AC system created by Nikola Tesla in 1886; this system used a transformer to step up the voltage for transmitting power and step down the voltage for indoor lightning. This system was efficient as well as expenses were less.
We are familiar with the war of currents between Tesla and Edison; on the contrary, the result of this war came in favor of the AC distribution system; however, the DC system persisted until the end of the 20th century.
In the 20th century, many power plants were constructed as the demand for power increasing day by day.
This was the history of power plants, how the improvements are made in the systems,
the efforts of many people to generate efficient energy nowadays.
From our next blog, we will discuss various types of power plants in detail; I will explain the construction of the parts used in power plant and their working and significance.
