![]() During the 1970s, only public utilities, which are often government monopolies or companies regulated by a governmental public utility commission, were allowed access to the electricity grid. There has always been a debate over who should provide associated services such as electricity transmission grids: the private market, the government, or some combination of the two. The electricity transmission system in the United States has been built over the last 100 years as interconnections were built between local electric providers. The electrical grid can store a certain amount of electricity, which is known as the "reserve margin." Grid operators manage this reserve margin, in addition to monitoring electricity demand, supply, and what type of energy is being used to generate electricity. Technology is being developed to make it easier to store more electricity, and, in part, to increase the use of renewable energy. Additionally, electricity storage technology is not advanced enough for most areas to rely completely on variable sources of electricity. Power plants using traditional fuels such as coal, natural gas, and crude oil can more easily increase the supply of power when demand for electricity increases than plants using variable sources such as solar and wind. Source: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Supply and demand The graphic below shows these steps along with the kilovolts and volts (kV and V respectively) required at each point in the process.Īn example of a typical North American energy grid
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