What happens to excess electricity generated in the UK which isn't sold abroad or stored?

Question

What happens to excess electricity generated in the UK which isn't sold abroad or stored?

Answer 1

You cannot generate "excess" electricity.  Electric current flows in circuits. You can only generate if you have a load. No generation is possible on an open circuit. Compare a bicycle.  If the chain falls off, what happens to the excess energy from your legs? Nothing! You just stop pedalling.

Answer 2

Strickly speaking there is very little spare electricity sloshing round the system (there is a little due to its nature but relativly little).

Over the years, the electricity generators have managed to get software to predict the demand on the system (for example, the weather, time of day, season, even whats on the tv - these are all put into the system) and they send a note to the generators to increase power production or reduce it depends onthe prediction. Its quite accurate. The power production is the steam made for example, to drive the turbine.

If there is too much power produced (steam etc) then all that happens is the excess speeds up the turbines, too little power and they slow down and this creates a variation in the supply frequence from that generator (nominally 50Hz in the UK)(means motors speed up but thats about all), too little power and the turbines slow down.

This speeding up or slowing down is "dampered" by the rest of the system meaning that the overall effect is small and short lived - the computers make very quick adjustments to keep things even.

Anyway, in short - overall too much or too little power production doesnt really create excess electricity, and the system as a whole evens things out sort of naturally

Answer 3

It isn't generated. Power plants keep a very tight control on the amount of power they generate, and adjust for the load constantly.

Answer 4

An A.C. generator will only supply enough for the load . The load on the motor driving the generator  will load depending on the A .C. load. There is no such thing as the generation of excess power. U always want  the generator to be able to supply a 30% over load.

Answer 5

I think that you will find there is no excess electricity generated in the UK. We import a considerable amount of electricity from French nuclear power plants which is carried on sub-sea cables.  The only way to store electricity is to use it to pump water uphill, then it regenerates power as it runs back down again.  There are pumped storage stations in Scotland and Wales that do this.

Answer 6

Electricity generation doesn't work that way - you don't create and store it like gas or oil. The power plants simply reduce power.

Unfortunately this is why so many people are blinded by the arguments about solar and wind power. They are not reliable sources, i.e. you can't guarantee that they can deliver electricity, so you have to have power stations which do.

Answer 7

Technically there is no such thing as excess electricity.  What is produced is consumed.  There might be excess generating *capacity*, but for the vast majority of the time, generated electric power exactly meets demand.  

Demand is estimated daily, and over a 24-hour period each day.  When demand is estimated low, generators are turned off as necessary, steam generation is throttled back.  When demand is estimated higher, more steam is produced, more generators are turned on as necessary.

Occasionally demand exceeds estimates, and the possiblility of a brown-out might occur.  Occasionally demand is less than expected and generators will tend to overrun, so regulators and governers 'kick in' to slow them down.  Steam for the turbines is then shunted off directly to cooling towers.

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Answer 8

If the demand for power decreases, Power Stations in the affected area simply cut back on Power Output.

(Which also helps in prolonging the life of the equipment used).

Answer 9

it goes to waste, they is why the Electricity is expensive, and also it would be very expensive to store it, so therefore Electricity is generated and if not used, it goes to waste, thats is why the orginal Gas Lamps of old London were invented, to used up excess oil.. and then they turned them into Electricity lamps