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Module B1 Study Book - the Graduate School of the Environment

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Lecture: What we’d BETTA do:<br />

Britain’s power system, & how it might change<br />

Written by Damian Randle, Open University & CAT-UEL. Original date: March<br />

2006 revised Feb 2007<br />

Our most successful project so far: When we dug <strong>the</strong> footing for <strong>the</strong> turbine,<br />

we struck oil<br />

Abstract<br />

a) Where did <strong>the</strong> National Grid come from, and what does it do?<br />

b) Can <strong>the</strong> grid cope with renewables?<br />

c) Should we change radically, in <strong>the</strong> direction <strong>of</strong> decentralised supply?<br />

Workbook discussion questions at <strong>the</strong> end.<br />

A: The national grid<br />

With thanks to Boyle et al & Boyle.<br />

Development<br />

The grid was set up by act <strong>of</strong> parliament, under <strong>the</strong> new Central Electricity<br />

Board, in 1926. Initially, its job was to interconnect <strong>the</strong> most efficient [ie<br />

largest, generally] generating stations in Great by means <strong>of</strong> high voltage<br />

86 Lecture: Britains Power System

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