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| Karnafuli Hydro power plant known as kaptai hydro power plant. Bangladesh |
The world's first power station was
designed and built by Lord Armstrong
at Cragside, England in 1868. Water from one of the lakes was used to power
Siemens dynamos. The electricity supplied power to lights, heating, produced
hot water, ran an elevator as well as labor-saving devices and farm buildings.
The first public power station was the
Edison Electric Light Station, built in London at 57, Holborn Viaduct, which started operation in January 1882. This was
a project of Thomas Edison that was
organized and managed by his partner, Edward
Johnson. A Babcock and Wilcox boiler powered a 125 horsepower steam engine
that drove a 27 ton generator called Jumbo, after the celebrated elephant.
This
supplied electricity to premises in the area that could be reached through the
culverts of the viaduct without digging up the road, which was the monopoly of
the gas companies. The customers included the City Temple and the Old Bailey.
Another important customer was the Telegraph Office of the General Post Office,
but this could not be reached though the culverts. Johnson arranged for the
supply cable to be run overhead, via Holborn
Tavern and Newgate.
In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Station was established by Edison to provide electric
lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area. The station ran until destroyed by
fire in 1890. The station used reciprocating steam engines to turn
direct-current generators. Because of the DC distribution, the service area was
small, limited by voltage drop in the feeders. The War of Currents eventually
resolved in favor of AC distribution and utilization, although some DC systems
persisted to the end of the 20th century. DC systems with a service radius of a
mile (kilometer) or so were necessarily smaller, less efficient of fuel
consumption, and more labor-intensive to operate than much larger central AC
generating stations.
Tags:
Electricity