How does the electricity system function?

www.leonardo-energy.org Electricity System as a Tandem Bicycle
The Electrical System as a Tandem Bicycle
September 2005
by Stefan Fassbinder1
, Bruno De Wachter2
email sfassbinder@kupferinstitut.de
The system that delivers electricity to private citizens and companies across
the country is highly complex. While electricity is an omnipresent and crucial
part of our everyday economy, understanding this system and all its associated
phenomena is not easy, sometimes even for trained electrical engineers. In
such a case, a good analogy often helps to form a better idea of how things
work. We have chosen to compare the electrical system with a tandem bicycle
to explain a few of its aspects.
Of course, no analogy is a 100% perfect ﬁt. The real electrical system and our imaginary
bike system do not match on every count since all characteristics of the electrical system
do not necessarily lend themselves to a translation into this bike system. Certain aspects
of the analogy are not always completely accurate. However the similarities between the
two are close enough to make the more easily visualized bike system of great help in
understanding the more abstract electrical system. And that, of course, is the goal of this
paper.
Acknowledgement
This paper has been developed based largely on ideas presented in a paper published in
April 2002 in IEEE Power Engineering by Prof Lennart S¨oder.
1
Deutsches Kupferinstitut
2
Forte
September 2005 – Page 1 of 10

1 The basic representation of the system
Imagine a tandem bicycle moving at constant speed.
The goal of this whole system is to keep the figures in blue at the back of the bike moving,
even though they are not generating any of the energy that keeps the bike in motion. They
represent the load. There are large loads that consume a lot of electricity, industrial plants
for instance, and smaller loads, like private dwellings.
The pedalling figures in red deliver the energy that keeps the system going. They are the
power stations where electrical energy is generated. Some power stations are larger and
stronger than others and thus supply more power.
The chain connecting all elements of the system is the equivalent of the electrical trans-
mission network. That is the network of high voltage lines used to transport the electrical
energy around the country. The chain must turn the wheels at a constant rate to main-
tain the same velocity. Likewise, the electrical network needs to have a fixed and constant
frequency. The upper part of the chain should be under a constant physical tension, just
as the connection in the electrical transmission network should have a fixed voltage level.
The lower part of the chain is without tension and is the equivalent of the neutral wire in
a transmission network.
The pedalling movement (energy) of the red figures is transmitted to the chain by a gear
or a gear system. This gear is like the transformer between the turning movement of the
turbine in a power station and the electrical high voltage network.
Some of the red figures (= power stations) don’t pedal at full power. They conserve
some of their energy to be able to apply some extra force when needed to hold the
same velocity. For example when another blue figure suddenly jumps onto the bike (=
another load connects to the network), or one of the red figures gets a cramp and has to
stop pedalling (= a power station experiences technical problems and has to shut down),
replacement force is needed to maintain the same velocity.
The tandem bicycle analogy can also be applied to some of the specific characteristics of
the Electrical Power System and its Power Quality as well.

2 Inductive power and its compensation
An inductive load has a sinewave or reoccurring pattern with a normal frequency and
voltage level, but is a bit delayed compared to the main sinewave on the grid. It origi-
nates in electrical motor induction coils, fluorescent lighting ballasts, and certain types of
electrical heating.
Such an inductive load can be represented by a blue figure leaning to one side of the
tandem (see drawing). It has the same weight (= normal load), so it doesn’t influence the
tension on the chain (= voltage level of the grid) nor the speed of the bike (= frequency
of the grid), but without compensation it might cause the bike to fall over.
So a red figure needs to lean in the opposite direction to compensate (= a power station
has to generate inductive power; power with the same delay in the sinewave as the load),
see drawing.

This has the following consequences:
• The compensation has to be immediate and exact or the whole bike (= electrical net-
work) will fall over. This requires a clear understanding among the red figures doing
the peddling (= among power stations) of what must be done, and the capability
to react very quickly.
• A red pedaling figure (= power stations) leaning to the side can’t work as comfort-
ably as before. As a consequence, they will put less force on the pedals (= power
stations will generate less ’active energy’; energy without delay on the sinewave).
So the other red pedallers (= power stations) will need to add some extra force.
• With a blue figure, riding in the back and leaning to one side of the bike and a red
figure leaning to the other, the bike catches more head wind, leading to extra losses.
This is just like the inductive current flowing through the electrical grid; it brings
about extra losses.
To counter these consequences, large inductive loads are in general compensated close to
their source. This is done by a capacitive load, more specifically by a battery of capacitors.
They have a current with a sinewave that has a certain lead time compared to the main
sinewave of the grid. In this way, it compensates for the delay of the inductive load. A
capacitive load can be seen as another blue figure sitting close to the first one but leaning
to the opposite side.
Inductive or capacitive loads are also called reactive loads. A load without a delay or lead
time is called an active load.

3 Harmonic distortion
Imagine a hyperactive blue rider that is constantly bending forward and backwards (see
figure). If he made this movement at the rhythm of the bike, it would do no harm. But
a problem occurs if he moves three or even five times faster. This represents a harmonic
load, a load with a frequency at a multiple of the normal frequency. TV sets, computers,
compact fluorescent lamps, and electrical motors with inverter drives are typical examples
of applications that can cause harmonic currents. Ideally these should be compensated
for by harmonic filters close to the source; otherwise the bike starts to jerk forward and
backwards, resulting in extra energy losses. Such a harmonic filter can be seen as a saddle
mounted on castors that moves forward and backwards and in this way immediately
neutralizes the movement of the hyperactive blue rider.

4 Keeping constant voltage and frequency
One of the red pedallers wears shoes that are too slippery. All of a sudden his foot slips off
the pedal. Suddenly his contribution to the power of the system is lost and the tension on
the chain drops. This needs to be compensated for by the other red pedallers to maintain
the same velocity. The biker who slipped off the pedals has to be careful not to hurt
himself, since the chain and his pedals keep on turning. It is a tricky operation to put his
foot on the pedal and start doing his share of the work again with his colleagues.
This situation can be compared with a voltage dip. Due to a failure in a power station
(= slippery shoes), it might happen that its control system suddenly shuts it down (=
slipping off the pedal), but with the risk of damaging certain pieces of equipment since the
network is more powerful and keeps the same frequency (= the pedal keeps on turning).
The result of this drop out is a sudden voltage dip on the grid (= drop of tension on
the chain) that lasts until the other power stations in the network react by raising their
contribution. If they don’t react fast enough, the frequency (= speed of the bike) might
start dropping. And just like the pedaller who lost his pedal and finds it difficult to put
his foot on the turning pedal again, it is a tricky operation for a power station to reconnect
its generator to the network again, since the frequencies have to match.
A similar voltage dip might happen when a heavy load is suddenly connected to the
network. This is why most of the time heavy loads are not connected all at once but
rather in incremental steps.
When a heavy load is suddenly disconnected, a voltage peak can occur. In such a case,
the power stations have to lower their contribution quickly or the frequency will rise. In
our tandem analogy, the bike will suddenly accelerate if any of the blue riders jump off
the bike and the red pedallers continue to apply put the same force on the pedals. They
have to react quickly and lower their power or the bike will start to accelerate.

5 Three different types of power stations
If a red pedaling figure is directly connected to the chain with one gear, he has to con-
stantly pedal at the right speed and with the right amount of power. This is the case for
large traditional power stations and nuclear power stations which are connected to the
grid by a transformer.
Some bikers can pedal slower however, since their force is transformed to the right speed
by a gear system. That corresponds to power stations that run slower, for instance a
hydro power station whose turbine speed depends upon the flow of the river. In such a
case, the turbine is connected to the generator just as in the case of the tandem bike by a
gear system that transforms the speed. Another option is that the generator turns at the
same speed of the turbine and the right frequency for the grid is reached by a frequency
inverter.

Wind turbines are like small red figures who pedal only when the weather is fine. The
nicer the weather, the faster they pedal. They are of great help sometimes, but you cant
rely on them. This is the same as wind turbines: they only function when the wind speed
is not too slow and not too fast. This is why they need to be backed up by other types of
power stations. These fair weather pedallers are connected to the chain by a belt and a
gear system, allowing them to pedal at varying speed, in the same manner wind turbines
are connected by a gear box or by a frequency inverter to offset the variations in wind
speed.
6 Three different types of loads
Not only do power stations differ a great deal in their characteristics, the loads differ as
well.
A first type of electrical load is a resistance, producing heat or light out of the electrical
energy. Examples are the light bulb or most types of electrical heating systems. It is
the equivalent of a blue rider without pedals, but continuously pulling on the brakes.
Those brakes transform kinetic energy into heat in the same way an resistance transforms
electrical energy into heat.

An electrical motor has a basic principle that is similar to a generator. But instead of
transforming rotating energy into electrical energy, the motor transforms electrical energy
back into rotating energy. In the analogy, this can be represented by a blue rider with
his feet on the turning pedals just like the red ﬁgures (= power stations), but instead of
pedalling along, applies his full weight against the rotating movement.
A third type of load is the reactive load, already discussed in point 2. This is the blue
rider without brakes or pedals, leaning to one side. This creates an inductive load with
a certain delay compared to the grid (a ﬂuorescent lamp for example) or the opposite,
a capacitive load with a certain lead compared to the grid (for example a battery of
capacitors).

7 Conclusion
This analogy makes it clear just how complex it is to manage a power system. The power
generated at any given moment must exactly compensate for the load. Maintaining this
fragile equilibrium means controlling several dimensions. The most diﬃcult challenge is
that both the speed of the chain (frequency of the network) and the tension on the chain
(voltage level) must remain steady. And all while diﬀerent and unexpected disturbances
of the equilibrium might occur.
Since the liberalization of the electricity market in Europe, each country has an indepen-
dent network operator who strives to execute this task.
References
[Soeder, 2002] Lennart Soeder, Explaining Power System Operation to Non-engineers,
IEEE Power Engineering, April 2002

How does the electricity system function?

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to How does the electricity system function? (20)

More from Leonardo ENERGY (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

How does the electricity system function?