Electricity In Great Britain
The National Grid covers most of mainland Great Britain and several of the surrounding islands, and there are interconnectors to Northern Ireland and to other European countries. Power is supplied to consumers at 230 volts AC with a frequency of 50 Hz. As of 2024, wind generates 30% of the yearly electrical energy on the grid, whereas fossil gas generated just over 25% and over two-thirds was low-carbon power. Coal power ceased in 2024. Nuclear is currently the second biggest low carbon source, some of which is imported from France. The government is aiming for greenhouse gas emissions from electricity in Britain to be net zero by 2035. The use of electricity declined in the 2010s and early 2020s, attributed largely to a decline in industrial activity and a switch to more energy efficient lighting and appliances. However demand is projected to increase considerably due to electrification, such as heat pumps and electric vehicles. UK energy policy includes capping some r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Office Of Gas And Electricity Markets
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is the government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets in Great Britain. It was formed by the merger of the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) and Office of Gas Supply (Ofgas). Ofgem's governing body is the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA), which is also referred to as the Ofgem board. Powers and duties The authority's powers and duties are largely provided for in statute (such as the Gas Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1989, the Utilities Act 2000, the Competition Act 1998, the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Energy Act 2004, the Energy Act 2008 and the Energy Act 2010) as well as arising from directly effective European Union legislation. Duties and functions concerning gas are set out in the Gas Act and those relating to electricity are set out in the Electricity Act. Its primary duty is to protect the interests of consumers, where possible by promoting competition. The Authori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heat Pump
A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm space. In winter a heat pump can move heat from the cool outdoors to warm a house; the pump may also be designed to move heat from the house to the warmer outdoors in summer. As they transfer heat rather than generating heat, they are more energy-efficient than heating by gas boiler. A gaseous refrigerant is compressed so its pressure and temperature rise. When operating as a heater in cold weather, the warmed gas flows to a heat exchanger in the indoor space where some of its thermal energy is transferred to that indoor space, causing the gas to condense into a liquid. The liquified refrigerant flows to a heat exchanger in the outdoor space where the pressure falls, the liquid evaporates and the temperature of the gas falls. It is no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Douglas Weir
William Douglas Weir, 1st Viscount Weir GCB PC (12 May 1877 – 2 July 1959) was a Scottish industrialist and politician, who served as President of the Air Council in 1918. Early life Weir was born in Glasgow in 1877, the eldest child of James Weir (1842/3–1920) and his wife, Mary Richmond (1848–1931). He attended Allan Glen's School and the High School of Glasgow before entering an apprenticeship in the business established by his father and his uncle, G. and J. Weir, manufacturers of condensers, pumps, and evaporators. Industrialist Weir rose to become a director of G. and J. Weir, before serving as managing director between 1902 and 1915, and as chairman from 1910 to 1953. During World War I, he converted his factories to produce explosive shells. He went on to hold a number of other directorships, including Lloyds Bank (1928–38), Imperial Chemical Industries (1928–53), International Nickel (1928–59), and Shell Transport and Trading (1939). He was also c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Newcastle Upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located on the River Tyne's northern bank opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England. Newcastle developed around a Roman Empire, Roman settlement called Pons Aelius. The settlement became known as ''Monkchester'' before taking on the name of The Castle, Newcastle, a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle was historically part of the county of Northumberland, but governed as a county corporate after 1400. In 1974, Newcastle became part of the newly-created metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. The local authority is Newcastle Ci ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Neptune Bank Power Station
Neptune Bank Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Tyne at Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. Commissioned in 1901 by the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company, the station was the first in the world to provide electricity for purposes other than domestic and street lighting. It was also the first in the world to generate electricity using three-phase electrical power distribution at a voltage of 5,500 volts. The station had an initial generating capacity of 2,800 kW, which was increased to 3,000 kW a year after the station opened, with the introduction of two 1,500 kW Parsons turbo alternators, the largest ever built at that time. The station closed in 1915, following the completion of an extension to Carville Power Station and the opening of Dunston Power Station. History At the beginning of the twentieth century, the use of electricity for general purposes began to be considered, and the Newcastle upon Tyne Electri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merz & McLellan
Merz and McLellan was a leading British electrical engineering consultancy based in Newcastle. History The firm was founded by Charles Merz and William McLellan in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902 when McLellan joined Merz's existing firm established in 1899.Charles Merz – Lessons from Boston Institute of Engineering & Technology The partnership was instrumental in designing the 's first electrical supply network, on Tyneside
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Charles Merz
Charles Hesterman Merz (5 October 1874 – 14 or 15 October 1940) was a British electrical engineer who pioneered the use of high-voltage three-phase AC power distribution in the United Kingdom, building a system in the North East of England in the early 20th century that became the model for the country's National Grid. Early life Merz was the eldest son of industrial chemist John Theodore Merz (a Quaker from Germany) and Alice Mary Richardson, a sister of John Wigham Richardson the Tyneside ship builder.''Children of Light: How Electricity Changed Britain Forever'' Gavin Weightman He was born in Gateshead and attended Bootham School, York. He attended Armstrong College in Newcastle, where his father was a part-time lecturer. Career He then entered an apprenticeship at the Newcastle Electric Supply Company (NESCo), which had been founded by his father, in 1889. In 1898 Merz became the first Secretary and Chief Engineer of the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electric Power Distribution
Electric power distribution is the final stage in the Power delivery, delivery of electricity. Electricity is carried from the Electric power transmission, transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution Electrical substation, substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission voltage to medium voltage ranging between and with the use of transformers. ''Primary'' distribution lines carry this medium voltage power to distribution transformers located near the customer's premises. Distribution transformers again lower the voltage to the utilization voltage used by lighting, industrial equipment and household appliances. Often several customers are supplied from one transformer through ''secondary'' distribution lines. Commercial and residential customers are connected to the secondary distribution lines through service drops. Customers demanding a much larger amount of power may be connected directly to the primary distribution level or the subtrans ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Three-phase Electric Power
Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3ϕ) is a common type of alternating current (AC) used in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. It is a type of polyphase system employing three wires (or four including an optional neutral return wire) and is the most common method used by electrical grids worldwide to transfer power. Three-phase electrical power was developed in the 1880s by several people. In three-phase power, the voltage on each wire is 120 degrees phase shifted relative to each of the other wires. Because it is an AC system, it allows the voltages to be easily stepped up using transformers to high voltage for transmission and back down for distribution, giving high efficiency. A three-wire three-phase circuit is usually more economical than an equivalent two-wire single-phase circuit at the same line-to-ground voltage because it uses less conductor material to transmit a given amount of electrical power. Three-phase power is mainly used dire ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla" . ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla first studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without receiving a degree. He then gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. In 1884 he immigrated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2024 State Opening Of Parliament
A State Opening of Parliament, State Opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom took place on 17 July 2024 when King Charles III opened the first Legislative session, session of the List of MPs elected in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Parliament elected in 2024, which was the first after the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election. Charles III delivered the Speech from the throne, King's Speech, his second as monarch, and the first since returning to his public duties after receiving treatment for cancer earlier in the year. The King set out the Government of the United Kingdom, UK government's legislative programme for the following parliamentary session. Along with Queen Camilla, Charles III travelled to Westminster in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and was accompanied by the Household Cavalry. At Westminster, the King read the 1,421 word speech from the throne in the House of Lords (United Kingdom), House of Lords. The speech was then deba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Great British Energy
Great British Energy (shortened to GB Energy or GBE) is a British government-owned renewable energy investment body that was formed as part of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's plans for energy policy. GBE will invest in renewable energy and own, manage and operate clean power projects. Proposals for the body were put forward by Labour in 2021 while in opposition, and the first steps to establish it were taken in late 2024 by the Starmer ministry, Starmer government. Great British Energy was formally established by the Great British Energy Act 2025, receiving royal assent on 15 May 2025. Origins The proposal to create Great British Energy was put forward by the former Labour leader Ed Miliband in his capacity as Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2021, as part of a wider platform of policies named the "Green Prosperity Plan". According to The Guardian, "Mathew Lawrence, the founder and director of the Common Wealth thinktank, [is] cr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |