The National Grid is the high-voltage electric power transmission network serving Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations, and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere on the grid can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere. The network serves the majority of Great Britain and some of the surrounding islands. It does not cover Northern Ireland, which is part of the Irish single electricity market.
The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale electricity market. The Australian Energy Market Commission develops and maintains the Australian National Electricity Rules (NER), which have the force of law in the states and territories participating in NEM. The Rules are enforced by the Australian Energy Regulator. The day-to-day management of NEM is performed by the Australian Energy Market Operator.
Murraylink is an Australian high voltage direct current electricity transmission link between Berri in South Australia and Red Cliffs in Victoria, connecting the two state electricity grids. Murraylink was commissioned in 2002 and is believed to be the world's longest underground transmission system and cost more than A$177 million. It was built by TransEnergie Australia, a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec. It was sold to the Australian Pipeline Trust in March 2006 for A$153 million. In December 2008 ownership of Murraylink was transferred to the newly formed Energy Infrastructure Investments Group, while APA continued as the operator. The ownership of EII is APA with 19.9%, with the balance with Japan-based Marubeni Corporation with 49.9% and Osaka Gas with 30.2%.
Directlink (Terranora)Interconnector is a mixed buried and above ground 59 kilometre (37 mi) High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electricity transmission cable route from near Lavertys Gap (28°34′15″S153°27′8″E), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) Southwest of Mullumbimby, New South Wales and Bungalora (28°15′20″S153°28′20″E) & connected via a 3.5km (2.2mi) AC Overhead Transmission Line to the NorthEast to the Terranora Electrical Substation (28°14′28.3″S153°30′12.7″E) @ Terranora, New South Wales in Eastern Australia. The DC cables alternate between above ground in a galvanised steel trough and below ground with depths up to 1m.
The East–West Interconnector is a 500 MW high-voltage direct current submarine and subsoil power cable which connects the Irish and British electricity markets. The project was developed by the Irish national grid operator EirGrid.
Gould Creek is an outer northeastern rural suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. Gould Creek is located in the City of Tea Tree Gully and City of Playford local government areas, and is adjacent to Greenwith, Salisbury Heights and Hillbank, as well as the rural districts of Yatala Vale and Upper Hermitage and the town of One Tree Hill.
Project EnergyConnect is a new electricity transmission line under construction which will connect the South Australia and New South Wales districts of the National Electricity Market in Australia. Riverlink was a previous working title for the project, drawn from a proposal first raised in 1999. The Australian Energy Market Operator used RiverLink in its proposal for this interconnector, but the transmission companies in South Australia (ElectraNet) and New South Wales (TransGrid) now call it EnergyConnect.
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids consist of power stations, electrical substations to step voltage up or down, electric power transmission to carry power over long distances, and finally electric power distribution to customers. In that last step, voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage. Power stations are typically built close to energy sources and far from densely populated areas. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. From small to large there are microgrids, wide area synchronous grids, and super grids.
The electricity sectors of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are integrated and supply 2.5 million customers from a combination of coal, peat, natural gas, wind and hydropower. In 2022, 34 TWh were generated. In 2018 natural gas produced 51.8%, while wind turbines generated 28.1%, coal 7%, and peat 6.8% of Ireland's average electricity demand. In 2020 wind turbines generated 36.3% of Ireland's electrical demand, one of the highest wind power proportions in the world. While the United Kingdom was one of the first countries in the world to deploy commercial nuclear power plants, the island of Ireland has never had a nuclear power plant built on either side of the Irish border. Nuclear power in Ireland was discussed in the 1960s and 1970s but ultimately never phased in, with legislation now in place explicitly forbidding its introduction.
The National Grid is the nationwide system of electric power transmission in New Zealand. The grid is owned, operated and maintained by Transpower New Zealand, a state-owned enterprise, although some lines are owned by local distribution companies and leased to Transpower. In total, the national grid contains 11,803 kilometres (7,334 mi) of high-voltage lines and 178 substations.
The North Sea Link is a 1,400 MW high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Norway and the United Kingdom.
South Australia is a leader in utility-scale renewable energy generation, and also produces gas and uranium for electricity generation. Gas production is mostly concentrated in the Cooper Basin in the state's north-east. Gas is delivered from these fields by pipeline to users interstate and to Port Adelaide where it fuels three separate gas-fired power plants. Uranium is also mined in South Australia, though nuclear power generation is prohibited nationally. The Olympic Dam mine is the world's single largest known deposit of uranium and represents 30% of the world's total uranium resource. Many utility-scale wind farms and solar farms have been commissioned during the 21st century and geology with potential for geothermal energy has also been identified but is yet to be developed.
Powerlink Queensland is an electricity transmission system operator owned by the Government of Queensland which operates the high-voltage electricity transmission infrastructure in Queensland.
The South Australian blackout of 2016 was a widespread power outage in South Australia that occurred as a result of storm damage to electricity transmission infrastructure on 28 September 2016. The cascading failure of the electricity transmission network resulted in almost the entire state losing its electricity supply, affecting 850,000 SA customers. Kangaroo Island did not lose its supply, as the Kangaroo Island power station had been built to supply the island for the contingency of a failure in the power cable under the Backstairs Passage.
The Hornsdale Wind Farm is an electricity generator in the locality of Hornsdale in the south-west of the Narien Range, north of Jamestown, South Australia. It consists of 99 wind turbines with a generation capacity of 315 megawatts (422,000 hp). The plant is owned and operated by Neoen, a French renewable energy company.
The Tailem Bend Solar Power Farm is a solar power farm near Tailem Bend in South Australia. It has 108MW of generation capacity but is limited to supplying 95MW to the national grid. An additional 85MW is proposed in stage 2. It is developed and owned by Singapore-based Vena Energy, a new name for the former Equis Energy following acquisition by Global Infrastructure Partners in January 2018. The output will be sold to Snowy Hydro for retail sale under its Lumo Energy brand. Stage 2 is also expected to provide battery storage.
The Dalrymple ESCRI battery is a 30 MW / 8 MW·h grid-connected battery array near Stansbury on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Its role is to provide improved reliability and stability to the electricity network on Yorke Peninsula and South Australia.
The high-voltage electricity substations in the United Kingdom are listed in the following tables. The substations provide entry points to, and exit points from, the National Grid (GB) or Northern Ireland Electricity Network. Entry points include power stations, major wind farms and inter-connectors from other countries and regions. Exit points are to lower voltage transmission and distribution substations which are also shown in the tables.
Stuart is a locality in the Riverland region of South Australia.
Gridlink Interconnector is a proposed submarine power cable between England and France. The 1,400 MW high-voltage direct current connector would link Kingsnorth National Grid substation in north Kent, England, with Réseau de Transport d'Électricité Warande substation in Bourbourg (Nord) near Dunkirk in northern France.
