We have an AC mains grid system in the UK. When farms of wind generators contribute to the grid system, if the generators are AC, how are the individual windmills connected to the grid such that they are all in phase? Or maybe they generate DC in which case electronic magic syncs them all up together.
Tony Blewett from Isle of Wight (Age: 55+)
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Filed under: Abraham Wahnon's Big Answers, age 55+, Answered Big Questions, Energy Generation Big Questions |
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The UK is connected by the UK national supergrid. This is a network of 400KV, 275KV and 132 KV power lines and substations. Other netwroks do exist at lower voltages these are normally considered part of the local loop and operate at 132V and below.
As part of any substation and within the network are circuits, capacitors and inductance. These will change the phasing of the power to ensure all lower is correctly phased.
The UK national grid is controlled by the National Grid control room where the frequency, phasing across the network and voltage are closely monitored. There are extremely tight parameters for these and the inductance and capacitance is constantly switched in and out of the circuit as required.