Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or, in some parts of Canada, hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to homes and businesses through the electric grid in many parts of the world. People use this electricity to power everyday items by plugging them into a wall outlet.
Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electricity. Electricity is carried from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission voltage to medium voltage ranging between 2 kV and 33 kV with the use of transformers. Primary distribution lines carry this medium voltage power to distribution transformers located near the customer's premises. Distribution transformers again lower the voltage to the utilization voltage used by lighting, industrial equipment and household appliances. Often several customers are supplied from one transformer through secondary distribution lines. Commercial and residential customers are connected to the secondary distribution lines through service drops. Customers demanding a much larger amount of power may be connected directly to the primary distribution level or the subtransmission level.
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and consumer, electric power may flow through several substations at different voltage levels. A substation may include transformers to change voltage levels between high transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at the interconnection of two different transmission voltages. They are a common component of the infrastructure. There are 55,000 substations in the United States.
A traction network or traction power network is an electricity grid for the supply of electrified rail networks. The installation of a separate traction network generally is done only if the railway in question uses alternating current (AC) with a frequency lower than that of the national grid, such as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
A traction substation, traction current converter plant, rectifier station or traction power substation (TPSS) is an electrical substation that converts electric power from the form provided by the electrical power industry for public utility service to an appropriate voltage, current type and frequency to supply railways, trams (streetcars) or trolleybuses with traction current.
The Los Angeles Railway was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent local services which complemented the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system's largely commuter-based interurban routes. The company carried many more passengers than the Red Cars, which served a larger and sparser area of Los Angeles.
Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site preserving an 1895 alternating current (AC) hydroelectric power station—one of the first in the United States.
Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8, also known as the Altadena Substation, is a former traction substation in Altadena, California. It operated under the Pacific Electric Railway and served as the substation for Pasadena area lines.
Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system is a traction power network for the southern portion of the Northeast Corridor (NEC), the Keystone Corridor, and several branch lines between New York City and Washington D.C. The system was constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1915 and 1938 before the North American power transmission grid was fully established. This is the reason the system uses 25 Hz, as opposed to 60 Hz, which is the standard for power transmission in North America. In 1976, Amtrak inherited the system from Penn Central, the successor to the Pennsylvania Railroad, along with the rest of the NEC infrastructure.
The Illinois Traction System Mackinaw Depot is a former in use 1909 to 1953 Illinois Terminal Railroad interurban passenger depot in Mackinaw, Illinois that still stands. The Illinois Terminal Railroad ran an over head trolley wire powered railroad from Peoria on the north to St.Louis on the south with branches to Champaign and Urbana. The brick depot and rotary converter "substation" was built in 1909 and designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The station served regularly scheduled electric interurban passenger trains and electric locomotive powered freight trains. The Illinois Power and Light Company also used the building as an electrical substation from 1927 until 1955. Very high voltage alternating current was converted to 600 volt direct current for use by the interurban line's locomotives and interurban cars. Wires entered and left through the large holes in the upper portions of the depot. The station was one of several properties owned by the IT at Mackinaw along with adjacent mainline track and a number of rail sidings, but the other buildings and the track have since been demolished leaving the depot as the only surviving landmark from the era of electric interurban trolley service in the central Illinois area.
Ivy Substation is a 99-seat theatre in Culver City, California which formerly housed power equipment for the nearby electric railways and Ivy station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
The Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad Company (S.&I.E.R.R.Co.) was an electrified interurban railway operating in Spokane, Washington and vicinity, extending into northern and central Idaho. The system originated in several predecessor roads beginning c. 1890, incorporated in 1904, and ran under its own name to 1929. It merged into the Great Northern Railway and later, the Burlington Northern Railroad, which operated some roads into the 1980s.
The Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 is a former traction substation in Santa Ana, California. It was built by the Pacific Electric Railway to provide electricity to run the railway's streetcars in central Orange County, California. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Cooke Dam is a hydro-electric dam on the Au Sable River in Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as the Cooke Hydroelectric Plant.
The Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway (C&A) was a short electric street railroad operating within the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, during the early 20th century. The line was preceded by several streetcar lines operating both horse-drawn and electric powered cars dating back to 1887. After facing financial difficulties, the predecessor lines were reorganized into the C&A in 1903. The C&A's electric streetcars operated off of an overhead line system that was powered by the railroad's own power plant. The C&A also offered electric power generated by its plant to the city of Charlottesville. During the mid-1910s, the line received numerous upgrades, including the construction of a new power plant on the Rivanna River, a new company headquarters building, expansion of track, and the purchase of new streetcars.
Coorparoo Substation No. 210 is a heritage-listed electrical substation at 12 Main Avenue, Coorparoo, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Reyburn Jameson and built in 1930 by A. Mason. It is also known as Substation 10. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 August 2005.
This glossary of electrical and electronics engineering is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related specifically to electrical engineering and electronics engineering. For terms related to engineering in general, see Glossary of engineering.
The Argyle Street Railway Substation is a heritage-listed railway electric substation located at Trinity Avenue, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1932 by Dorman, Long and Co. It is also known as Sydney Harbour Bridge Substation. The property is owned by RailCorp, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Post Street Electric Substation is an electric substation on the Spokane River in the city of Spokane, Washington. Built in 1910, the Post Street substation served the needs of the city's growing electric grid as well as the surrounding area. The substation consolidates and delivers power generated by the Upper Falls Dam and the Monroe Street Dam hydroelectric plants. The building is one of many contributions to Spokane's downtown area by renowned Pacific Northwest architect Kirtland K. Cutter.
M42 is a sub-basement of Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The basement contains an electrical substation that provides electricity to the terminal and helps power its tracks' third rails.
