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83-656: The Central Electricity Generating Board ( CEGB ) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 January 1958 to assume the functions of the Central Electricity Authority (1955–1957), which had in turn replaced the British Electricity Authority (1948–1955). The Electricity Council

166-532: A SCADA solution developed in partnership by RWE npower (a descendant company of CEGB) and Thales UK . APMS itself has since become obsolete. However, Eggborough was the last station, particularly unit 2; fully operated using APMS until its decommissioning in 2017. In contrast, PowerGen , later taken over by E.ON (which further split to form Uniper ), undertook a programme to port the entire system to current hardware. The most current version of Cutlass, 'PT-Cutlass Kit 9', runs on Motorola PPC-based hardware, with

249-639: A grid services market. "Dynamic Containment" started in October 2020, initially priced at £17 per MW per hour, and Dynamic Regulation (DR) started in April 2022. Consumers of electricity are split into two categories: half-hourly metered (HH) and non-half-hourly metered (NHH). Customers whose peak demand is sufficiently high are obliged to have a HH meter, which, in effect, takes a meter reading every 30 minutes. The rates at which charges are levied on these customers' electricity suppliers therefore varies 17,520 times

332-463: A stretch target to be carbon neutral or negative by 2033, well ahead of the UK's national target to achieve this by 2050. It also aims to have the capability to be 'zero carbon' as early as 2025, meaning that if energy suppliers are able to produce sufficient green power, the grid could theoretically run without any greenhouse gas emissions at all (i.e. no carbon capture or offsetting would be needed as

415-485: A (non-leap) year. The TNUoS charges for a HH metered customer are based on their demand during three half-hour periods of greatest demand between November and February, known as the Triad. Due to the nature of electricity demand in the UK, the three Triad periods always fall in the early evening, and must be separated by at least ten clear working days. The TNUoS charges for a HH customer are simply their average demand during

498-642: A Report on the Operation by the Board of its system for the generation and supply of Electricity in bulk was published in 1981. The report found that the CEGB's operations were efficient but that their investment appraisal operated against the public interest. England and Wales England and Wales ( Welsh : Cymru a Lloegr ) is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom . It covers

581-403: A capacity of 55,185 MW and supplied 210,289 GWh. At its inception the CEGB operated 2,763 circuit km of high-tension 275 kV supergrid. The growth of the high voltage National Grid over the lifetime of the CEGB is demonstrated in the following table. In 1981–2 there was a total of 203 substations operating at 275/400 kV, these sub-stations included 570 transformers operating at 275/400 kV. At

664-500: A director-general, a director of generation, a director of operational planning, a director of transmission, a financial controller, a controller of scientific services and a personnel manager. Regional headquarters: Haslucks Green Road, Shirley, Solihull , West Midlands. The Midlands Region was responsible for the operation of 38 power stations, over 170 sub-stations and nearly 2,000 miles of grid transmission line in an area that covered 11,000 square miles. The region produced more than

747-468: A distinctive legislative framework and history. National Grid (Great Britain) The National Grid is a wide area synchronous grid operating at 50 hertz. Most of the physical HV parts of the grid consists of 400 kV lines as well as some 275 kV lines that collectively form a supergrid . It has several undersea interconnectors : an AC connector to the Isle of Man , and DC connectors to Northern Ireland,

830-410: A maximum rate of 75 MW during the year would still be charged for the full 100 MW of TEC. In some cases, there are negative TNUoS tariffs. These generators are paid an amount based on their peak net supply over three proving runs over the course of the year. This represents the reduction in costs caused by having a generator close to the centre of demand of the country. National Grid uses

913-515: A national system. The growth by then in the number of electricity users was the fastest in the world, rising from three quarters of a million in 1920 to nine million in 1938. The grid proved its worth during the Blitz , when South Wales provided power to replace lost output from Battersea and Fulham power stations. The grid was nationalised by the Electricity Act 1947 , which also created

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996-623: A new non-lattice design of electricity pylon, the T-pylon, was built near East Huntspill , Somerset for the new 35 mile Hinkley Point C to Avonmouth connection. In 2023, the National Grid began removing equipment from China's NARI Technology over national security concerns. The contiguous synchronous grid covers England (including the Isle of Wight ), Scotland (including some of the Scottish islands such as Orkney , Skye and

1079-511: A quarter of the electricity used in England and Wales and had a major share of the industrial construction programme mounted by the CEGB during the 1960s. In 1948 the total generating capacity of all the power stations in the region was 2,016 MW only a little more than a modern 2,000 MW station. By 1957 the region's capacity was up to 4,000 MW, doubling to 8,000 MW by 1966 and rising to 14,000 MW in 1969 and 16,000 MW by 1971. Previous chairmen of

1162-623: A second by second basis to either lower the demand or to provide extra generation. Reserve services are a group of services each acting within different response times: These reserves are sized according to three factors: The English and Welsh parts of the National Grid are controlled from the National Grid Control Centre which is located in St Catherine's Lodge, Sindlesham , Wokingham in Berkshire. It

1245-659: A significant increase in unit size and had many teething problems, most of which were solved to result in reliable service and gave good experience towards the design of the 660 MW units. In the 1970s and 1980s, for the real-time control of power stations the R&;D team developed the Cutlass programming language and application system. After privatisation, CUTLASS systems in National Power were phased out and replaced largely with Advanced Plant Management System (APMS) –

1328-463: A single unit for some purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England. The continuance of Scots law was guaranteed under the 1706 Treaty of Union that led to the Acts of Union 1707 , and as a consequence English law—and after 1801 , Irish law —continued to be separate. Following the two Acts of Union, Parliament can restrict the effect of its laws to part of

1411-596: A single unit, except for the land to the north of Hadrian's Wall – though the Roman-occupied area varied in extent, and for a time extended to the Antonine/Severan Wall . At that time, most of the native inhabitants of Roman Britain spoke Brythonic languages , and were all regarded as Britons , divided into numerous tribes. After the conquest, the Romans administered this region as a single unit,

1494-463: A study in 1960 of future transmission needs. Considered in the study, together with the increased demand, was the effect on the transmission system of the rapid advances in generator design resulting in projected power stations of 2,000–3,000 MW installed capacity. These new stations were mostly to be sited where advantage could be taken of a surplus of cheap low-grade fuel and adequate supplies of cooling water, but these sites did not coincide with

1577-413: A sufficient margin for future expansion. The decision in favour of a 400 kV system was made for two main reasons. Firstly the majority of the 275 kV lines could be uprated to 400 kV, and secondly it was envisaged that operation at 400 kV could begin in 1965 compared with 1968 for a 500 kV scheme. Design work was started and in order to meet the programme for 1965 it was necessary for

1660-422: Is charged separately). The grid also charges an annual fee to cover the cost of generators, distribution networks and large industrial users connecting. Triad charges encourage users to cut load at peak periods; this is often achieved by using diesel generators. Such generators are also routinely used by National Grid. If the total TNUoS or Triad receipts (say £15,000/MW·year × 50,000 MW = £750 million/year)

1743-491: Is completed, the site's storage capacity will be 266 MWh. National Grid is responsible for contracting short term generating provision to cover demand prediction errors and sudden failures at power stations. This covers a few hours of operation giving time for market contracts to be established to cover longer term balancing. Frequency-response reserves act to keep the system's AC frequency within ±1% of 50  Hz , except in exceptional circumstances. These are used on

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1826-668: Is divided by the total number of units delivered by the UK generating system in a year (the total number of units sold – say 360 terawatt-hours (1.3 EJ). ), then a crude estimate can be made of transmission costs, and one gets the figure of around 0.2p/kW⋅h. Other estimates also give a figure of 0.2p/kW⋅h. However, Bernard Quigg notes: "According to the 06/07 annual accounts for NGC UK transmission, NGC carried 350TW⋅h for an income of £2012m in 2007, i. e. NGC receives 0.66p per kW hour. With two years inflation to 2008/9, say 0.71p per kW⋅h.", but this also includes generators' connection fees. In order to be allowed to supply electricity to

1909-710: Is known as an Act of Senedd Cymru . For a company to be incorporated in the United Kingdom, its application for registration with Companies House must state "whether the company's registered office is to be situated in England and Wales (or in Wales), in Scotland or in Northern Ireland", which will determine the law applicable to that business entity. A registered office must be specified as "in Wales" if

1992-466: Is sometimes described as being a 'secret' location. As of 2015 the system is under consistent cyber attack . Although the transmission network in Scotland is owned by separate companies – SP Transmission plc (part of ScottishPower ) in the south, and Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc (part of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks ) in the north – overall control rests with National Grid Electricity System Operator. The costs of operating

2075-538: Is the case with 'net zero'). In 2020 about 40% of the grid's energy came from burning natural gas, and it is not expected that anywhere close to sufficient green power will be available to run the grid on zero carbon in 2025, except perhaps on the very windiest days. Analysts such as Hartree Solutions considered in 2020 that getting to 'net zero' by 2050 would be challenging, even more so to reach 'net zero' by 2033. There has, however, been sustained progress towards carbon neutrality , with carbon intensity falling by 53% in

2158-637: The British Electricity Authority . In 1949, the British Electricity Authority decided to upgrade the grid by adding 275 kV links. At its inception in 1950, the 275 kV Transmission System was designed to form part of a national supply system with an anticipated total demand of 30,000 MW by 1970. The predicted demand was already exceeded by 1960. This rapid growth led the Central Electricity Generating Board (created in 1958) to carry out

2241-696: The Government of Wales Act 1998 . Measures and Acts of the Senedd apply in Wales, but not in England. Following the Government of Wales Act, effective since May 2007, the Senedd can legislate on matters devolved to it. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011 , the Senedd gained direct law-making powers, without the need to consult Westminster. This was the first time in almost 500 years that Wales had its own powers to legislate. Each piece of Welsh legislation

2324-659: The Merz & McLellan consulting partnership, at his Neptune Bank Power Station near Newcastle upon Tyne . This opened in 1901, and by 1912 had developed into the largest integrated power system in Europe. The rest of the country, however, continued to use a patchwork of small supply networks. In 1925, the British government asked Lord Weir , a Glaswegian industrialist, to solve the problem of Britain's inefficient and fragmented electricity supply industry. Weir consulted Merz, and

2407-574: The Minister of Power , who had experience or capacity in "the generation or supply of electricity, industrial, commercial or financial matters, applied science, administration, or the organisation of workers". The power of appointment later devolved to the Minister of Technology , then to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry . There were six chairmen of the CEGB: The executive comprised

2490-882: The Norman invasion of Wales in the 11th century, English law came to apply in the parts of Wales conquered by the Normans (the Welsh Marches ). In 1283, the English, led by Edward I , with the biggest army brought together in England since the 11th century, conquered the remainder of Wales , then organised as the Principality of Wales . This was then united with the English crown by the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284. This aimed to replace Welsh criminal law with English law. Welsh law continued to be used for civil cases until

2573-591: The Shetland Islands , the Republic of Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. Since the privatisation of the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1990, the National Grid in England and Wales is owned by National Grid plc . In Scotland the grid is owned by ScottishPower Transmission in the south, and by SSE in the north. Infrastructure connecting offshore wind farms to

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2656-527: The Western Isles which have limited connectivity ), Wales , and the Isle of Man . The following figures are taken from the 2005 Seven Year Statement. Total generating capacity is supplied roughly equally by renewable , gas fired, nuclear , coal fired power stations . Annual energy transmitted in the UK grid is around 300–360 TWh (1.1–1.3 EJ), with an average load factor of 72% (i.e. 3.6×10 /(8,760 × 57×10 ). The National Grid has

2739-636: The province of Britain . Long after the departure of the Romans, the Britons in what became Wales developed their own system of law , first codified by Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good; reigned 942–950) when he was king of most of present-day Wales (compare King of Wales ); in England Anglo-Saxon law was initially codified by Alfred the Great in his Legal Code , c.  893 . However, after

2822-581: The 1961 for the opening of Staythorpe B Power Station . When first constituted the CEGB's London headquarters was at the former Central Electricity Authority's building in Winsley Street W1, there were also offices in Buchanan House, 24/30 Holborn, London, EC1. There were a total of 131,178 employees in the electricity supply industry 1989, composed as follows: The CEGB spent more on industrial construction than any other organisation in

2905-528: The 275 kV systems was examined as a possible solution. However, in addition to the technical problem of high fault levels, many more lines would have been required to obtain the estimated transfers at 275 kV. As this was not consistent with the Central Electricity Generating Board's policy of preservation of amenities, a better solution was sought. Consideration was given to 400 kV and 500 kV schemes: both gave

2988-459: The English. This was reflected on both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I 's coat of arms where the dragon represented Wales and the lion represented England. As soon as the Tudor dynasty ended with the death of Elizabeth I , however, the red dragon of Wales was dropped and replaced with the unicorn of Scotland with the succession of King James I who demoted Wales' status on the coat of arms and on

3071-856: The Generation Development and Construction Division based in Cheltenham and then Barnwood Gloucester, and the Transmission Development and Construction Division based in Guildford. In 1979 the Transmission Division had been restructured as the Transmission and Technical Services Division based in Guildford, and a Technology Planning and Research Division based in London, the latter was formed from

3154-688: The Midlands Region were Arthur Hawkins , Gilbert Blackman, and R. L. Batley. Prior to 1968 the Midlands Region was divided into the West Midlands Division and the East Midlands Division. The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in the Midlands Region was: Regional Headquarters: Merrion Centre, Leeds (1971). Beckwith Knowle, Otley Road, Harrogate . Extending through Northumberland , Durham , Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire

3237-608: The Minister of Power in May 1962), Marchwood Engineering Laboratory (MEL), and Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories (BNL). There were also five regional facilities and four project groups, North, South, Midlands and the Transmission Project Group. These scientific service departments (SSD) had a base in each region. A major SSD role was solving engineering problems with the several designs of 500 MW units. These were

3320-521: The National Grid System are recouped by National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) through levying of Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges on the users of the system. The costs are split between the generators and the users of electricity. Tariffs are set annually by NGESO, and the country is divided into zones, each with a different tariff for generation and consumption. In general, tariffs are higher for generators in

3403-401: The National Grid are low, there are significant further losses in onward electricity distribution to the consumer, causing a total distribution loss of about 7.7%. Losses differ significantly for customers connected at different voltages; connected at high voltage the total losses are about 2.6%, at medium voltage 6.4% and at low voltage 12.2%. Generated power entering the grid is metered at

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3486-614: The National Grid, the Grid Code , the Supergrid is defined as those parts of the British electricity transmission system that are connected at voltages in excess of 200 kV. The 2.2 GW undersea Western HVDC Link from Scotland to North Wales was built in 2013–2018. This was the first major non- alternating current grid link within Great Britain, although interconnectors to foreign grids already used HVDC . In 2021

3569-538: The National Grid: the users pay less if they can manage their usage so as to be less peaky. For each year's calculation, historic system demand metrics are analysed to determine three half-hour periods of high average demand; the three periods are known as triads. The periods are (a) the period of peak system demand, and (b) two other periods of highest demand which are separated from peak system demand and from each other by at least ten days. For power stations,

3652-768: The North Eastern Region was divided into the Northern Division and the Yorkshire Division.The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in the North Eastern Region was: Regional Headquarters: 825 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 (1971). Europa House, Bird Hall Lane, Cheadle Heath, Stockport . Previous chairman of the North Western Region were J.L. Ashworth and G.B. Jackson. The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in

3735-573: The North Eastern Region was responsible for the operation of 32 power stations capable of producing 8,000 MW of electricity. 108 substations and over 1,200 route miles of overhead lines transmitted the electricity to the Yorkshire Electricity Board and the North Eastern Electricity Board for passing onto the customer. A previous chairman of the North Eastern Region was P.J. Squire. Prior to 1968

3818-762: The North Western Region was: Regional Headquarters: Bankside House, Summer Street, London. Past chairman of the South Eastern Region were G.N. Stone, H.J. Bennett and F.W. Skelcher. Prior to 1968 the South Eastern Region was divided into the North Thames Division and the South Thames Division. The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in the South Eastern Region was: Regional Headquarters: 15–23 Oakfield Grove, Clifton, Bristol (1971). Bedminster Down, Bridgwater Road, Bristol. Previous chairman of

3901-530: The Republic of Ireland (500 MW HVDC East–West Interconnector ), and Denmark (1.4 GW Viking Link ). A further 500 MW link with the Republic of Ireland ( Greenlink ) is scheduled for 2024. Further potential schemes include links with Germany ( NeuConnect , 1.4 GW); Iceland ( Icelink , around 1 GW) and Morocco (3.6 GW from new battery-backed solar generation). The UK grid has access to large pumped storage systems, notably Dinorwig Power Station which can provide 1.7 GW for 5–6 hours, and

3984-624: The Research Division System Technical and Generation Studies Branches. A Corporate Strategy Department was formed in 1981 from some of the Planning Department. A Nuclear Operations Support Group was also formed in 1981 to provide expert support. The sculpture "Power in Trust" from the CEGB logo was made by Norman Sillman to represent a hand made from boiler pipes and a turbine, it was commissioned in

4067-813: The South Western Region were Douglas Pask , Roy Beatt, A.C. Thirtle and R.H. Coates. Prior to 1968 the South Western Region was divided into the Southern Division, the Western Division and the South Wales Division. The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in the South Western Region was: The supplies of electricity from the CEGB Regions to the area electricity boards in 1971–2 and 1981–2 were as follows. The average charge in 1971–2

4150-564: The UK's electricity interconnection level (off-island transmission capacity relative to production capacity) was 6%. As of 2024 , the total capacity of these connectors is over 9 GW. They include direct-current cables to northern France (2 GW HVDC Cross-Channel , 1 GW HVDC IFA-2 , 1 GW ElecLink via the Channel Tunnel ); Belgium (1 GW HVDC Nemo Link ); the Netherlands (1 GW HVDC BritNed ); Norway (1.4 GW HDVC North Sea Link ); Northern Ireland (500 MW HVDC Moyle Interconnector );

4233-420: The UK. In 1958 about 40 power stations were being planned or constructed at a capital cost of £800 million. Those public supply power stations that were in operation at any time between 1958 and 1990 were owned and operated by the CEGB. In 1971–1972 there were 183 power stations on 156 sites, with an installed capacity of 58,880.051 MW, and supplied 190,525 GWh. By 1981–1982 there were 108 power stations with

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4316-644: The annexation of Wales to England in the 16th century by the Welsh House of Tudor . The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 then consolidated the administration of all the Welsh territories and incorporated them fully into the legal system of the Kingdom of England. This was in part to update outdated Welsh laws, but also to control Wales alongside England; through these acts, the Welsh could be seen as equals to

4399-555: The centre of operations was the National Control Centre of the National Grid in London, which was part of the control hierarchy for the system. The National Control Centre was based in Bankside House from 1962. There were also both area and district Grid Control Areas, which were originally at Newcastle upon Tyne , Leeds , Manchester, Nottingham , Birmingham, St Albans , East Grinstead and Bristol . The shift control engineers who worked in these control centres would cost, schedule and load-dispatch an economic commitment of generation to

4482-427: The chairman and the full-time board members. The Headquarters Operations Department provided a service to the board and executive and could supply specialist staff. The chairman and two other members of the board plus the chairmen of the area boards were members of the Electricity Council. The design, construction and development functions associated with power stations and transmission was undertaken by two divisions:

4565-519: The chargeable demand is only the net site demand (per CUSC rule 14.17.10), so when the site is net exporting (i.e. total metered generation at that site exceeds total separately metered station demand), that separately metered station demand shall not be liable for demand TNUoS charges in relation to the station demand at triad. Triad dates in recent years were: This is the main source of income which National Grid uses to cover its costs for high-voltage long-distance transmission (lower voltage distribution

4648-432: The commissioning of new stations. The Committee's recommendations were enacted by the Electricity Act 1957 which established the Electricity Council to oversee the industry and the CEGB with responsibility for generation and transmission. The CEGB was established by section 2 of the Electricity Act 1957 . It consisted of a Generating Board comprising a chairman and seven to nine full-time or part-time members, appointed by

4731-511: The company wishes to use a name ending cyfyngedig or cyf , rather than Limited or Ltd. or to avail itself of certain other privileges relating to the official use of the Welsh language. Outside the legal system, the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as "England and Wales", others are separate. The order of precedence in England and Wales is distinct from those of Northern Ireland and Scotland , and from Commonwealth realms . The national parks of England and Wales have

4814-416: The constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 . The substantive law of the jurisdiction is English law . The devolved Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh : Senedd Cymru ) – previously named the National Assembly for Wales – was created in 1999 under the Government of Wales Act 1998 and provides a degree of self-government in Wales. The powers of

4897-420: The contract engineering for the first projects to run concurrently with the design. One of these projects was the West Burton 400 kV Indoor Substation, the first section of which was commissioned in June 1965. From 1965, the grid was partly upgraded to 400 kV, beginning with a 150-mile (240 km) line from Sundon to West Burton , to become the Supergrid . In the 2010 issue of the code that governs

4980-417: The engineering workstation and administrative functions provided by a standard Microsoft Windows PC. It is fully compatible (with a few minor exceptions) with the DEC PDP-11 version (kit 1) released by PowerGen and has a high level of compatibility with the final version of kit 1 formerly used at National Power. It is used at three UK power stations: Ratcliffe-on-Soar , Cottam , and Fiddlers Ferry . The CEGB

5063-434: The first adaptation of the Flag of Great Britain . Prior to 1746, it was not clear whether a reference to "England" in legislation included Wales, and so in 1746, Parliament passed the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 . This specified that in all prior and future laws, references to "England" would by default include Wales (and Berwick-upon-Tweed ). The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed by the Welsh Language Act 1967 , although

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5146-403: The five years to 2020. The phase out of coal is progressing rapidly with only 1.6% of the UK's electricity coming from coal in 2020, compared with about 25% in 2015. 2020 saw the UK go more than two months without needing to burn any coal for electricity, the longest period since the Industrial Revolution . Figures are again from the 2005 Seven Year Statement. Although overall losses in

5229-409: The grid is owned by offshore transmission owners . National Grid plc is the transmission system operator for the whole GB grid. At the end of the 19th century, Nikola Tesla established the principles of three-phase high-voltage electric power distribution while he was working for Westinghouse in the United States. The first use of this system in the United Kingdom was by Charles Merz , of

5312-401: The high-voltage side of the generator transformer. Any power losses in the generator transformer are therefore accounted to the generating company, not to the grid system. The power loss in the generator transformer does not contribute to the grid losses. In 2009–10 there was an average power flow of about 11 GW from the north of the UK, particularly from Scotland and northern England, to

5395-418: The legislature were expanded by the Government of Wales Act 2006 , which allows it to pass its own laws , and the Act also formally separated the Welsh Government from the Senedd. There is no equivalent body for England , which is directly governed by the parliament and government of the United Kingdom . During the Roman occupation of Britain , the area of present-day England and Wales was administered as

5478-448: The load centres. West Burton 's 4 × 500 MW machines, in the Nottinghamshire coalfield near the River Trent , is an example. These developments shifted the emphasis on the transmission system from interconnection to bulk power transfers from the generation areas to the load centres, such as the anticipated transfer in 1970 of some 6,000 MW from the Midlands to the home counties . Continued reinforcement and extension of

5561-487: The main interconnected system (the 400/275/132kV network) at an adequate level of security. They also had information about the running costs and availability of every power producing plant in England and Wales. They constantly anticipated demand, monitored and instructed power stations to increase, reduce or stop electricity production. They used the " merit order ", a ranking of each generator in power stations based upon how much they cost to produce electricity. The objective

5644-429: The north and consumers in the south since there is generally a north–south flow of electricity. 'Triad demand' is a metric of demand which reports retrospectively three numbers about peak demand between November and February (inclusive) each winter. In order to encourage usage of the National Grid to be less 'peaky', the triad is used as the basis for extra charges paid by the users (the licensed electricity suppliers) to

5727-405: The realm, and generally the effect of laws, where restricted, was originally applied to one or more of the former kingdoms. Thus, most laws applicable to England also applied to Wales. However, Parliament now passes laws applicable to Wales and not to England (and vice versa), a practice which was rare before the middle of the 20th century. Examples are the Welsh Language Acts 1967 and 1993 and

5810-439: The result was the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 , which recommended that a "national gridiron " supply system be created. The 1926 Act created the Central Electricity Board , which set up the UK's first synchronised, nationwide AC grid, running at 132 kV, 50 Hz. The grid was created with 6,400 kilometres (4,000 miles) of cables – mostly overhead – linking the 122 most efficient power stations. The first "grid tower"

5893-417: The smaller Cruachan and Ffestiniog . There are also some grid batteries . As of May 2021, 1.3 GW of battery storage was operating in the United Kingdom, with 16 GW of projects in the pipeline potentially deployable over the next few years. A 100 MW power Chinese-financed plant at Minety , Wiltshire was reported to be the largest in Europe when it opened in July 2021; when a 50 MW extension

5976-522: The south coast has about 12% greater effectiveness due to reduced transmission system power losses compared to new generating capacity in north England, and about 20% greater effectiveness than in northern Scotland. There is a 40 MW AC cable to the Isle of Man, the Isle of Man to England Interconnector and a 260km 600MW HVDC cable to the Shetland Islands . The UK grid is connected to adjacent European electrical grids by submarine power cables . In 2014,

6059-505: The south of the UK across the grid. This flow was anticipated to grow to about 12 GW by 2014. Completion of the Western HVDC Link in 2018 added capacity for a flow of 2.2 GW between Western Scotland and North Wales. Because of the power loss associated with this north to south flow, the effectiveness and efficiency of new generation capacity is significantly affected by its location. For example, new generating capacity on

6142-434: The statutory definition of "England" created by that Act still applies for laws passed before 1967. In new legislation since then, what was referred to as "England" is now "England and Wales", while subsequent references to "England" and "Wales" refer to those political divisions. There have been multiple calls from both Welsh academics and politicians for a Wales criminal justice system . England and Wales are treated as

6225-403: The transmission system, generators must be licensed (by BEIS) and enter into a connection agreement with NGET which also grants Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC). Generators contribute to the costs of running the system by paying for TEC, at the generation TNUoS tariffs set by NGET. This is charged on a maximum-capacity basis. In other words, a generator with 100 MW of TEC who only generated at

6308-416: Was 0.6519 pence/kWh, in 1981–2 the charge was 3.0615 pence/kWh. During the lifetime of the CEGB peak demand had more than doubled from 19,311 MW in 1958 to 47,925 MW in 1987. Sales of electricity had increased from 79.7 TWh in 1958 to 240 TWh in 1988. The CEGB had an extensive R&D section with its three principal laboratories at Leatherhead (Central Electricity Research Laboratories, CERL) (opened by

6391-560: Was also established in January 1958, as the coordinating and policy-making body for the British electricity supply industry. The CEGB was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales , whilst in Scotland electricity generation was carried out by the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board . The CEGB's duty

6474-501: Was as follows: Note: imports are bulk supplies from the South of Scotland and France and from private sources, exports are bulk supplies to the South of Scotland and France. A summary of the income and expenditure of the CEGB (in £ million) is as follows: Detailed control of operational matters such planning, electricity generation, transmission and maintenance were delegated to five geographical regions. From January 1971 each region had

6557-457: Was erected near Edinburgh on 14 July 1928, and work was completed in September 1933, ahead of schedule and on budget. It began operating in 1933 as a series of regional grids with auxiliary interconnections for emergency use. Following the unauthorised but successful short term parallelling of all regional grids by the night-time engineers on 29 October 1937, by 1938 the grid was operating as

6640-586: Was subject to examination from external bodies and formed policies and strategies to meet its responsibilities. A 1978 government white paper Re-organisation of the Electricity Supply in England and Wales proposed the creation of an Electricity Corporation to unify the fragmented structure of the industry. Parliamentary constraints prevented its enactment. A report by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission , Central Electricity Generating Board:

6723-433: Was to develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of supply of electricity in bulk for England and Wales, and for that purpose to generate or acquire supplies of electricity and to provide bulk supplies of electricity for the area electricity boards for distribution. It also had power to supply bulk electricity to the Scottish boards or electricity undertakings outside Great Britain. The organisation

6806-448: Was to ensure that electricity production and transmission was achieved at the lowest possible cost. In 1981 the three-tier corporate transmission structure: National Control, area control rooms in the regions, and district control rooms (areas) was changed to a two-tier structure by merging the area and district control rooms. The electricity generated, supplied and sold by the CEGB, in GWh,

6889-603: Was unusual in that most of its senior staff were professional engineers, supported in financial and risk-management areas. In 1954, six years after nationalisation, the Government appointed the Herbert Committee to examine the efficiency and organisation of the electricity industry. The committee found that the British Electricity Authority's dual roles of electricity generation and supervision had led to central concentration of responsibility and to duplication between headquarters and divisional staff which led to delays in

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