Transcript What is a SUBSTATION?

What is a
SUBSTATION ?
What is a substation?
.
… what does it do?
… how does it work?
These are excellent
questions!
Let’s deal with
them one at a time.
but first....
What is a voltage? (Only 1st 6 minutes
of the video is necessary)
Voltage is the
measure of
force in an
electric current.
What does
a substation
.
do?
Electricity is
transported at a
very high, powerful
voltages. A
substation safely
changes the
electricity from very
high voltage to lower
voltage we can use.
What is a
substation?
.
Water comes
from the water
plant in very big
pipes, yet it
comes out in
your kitchen or
Think of it like a
connector for
bathroom in
different sized water
much smaller
pipes.
pipes.
How does a substation
work?
.
Substations have
HUGE power poles
to bring in the high
voltage electricity.
What is a
substation?
.
The substation
then takes
electricity from a
very high voltage
and lowers it to the
voltage we use in
our homes &
businesses.
How does a substation
work?
.
Substations are
have complex
circuit breakers,
switches,
relays,
capacitors, and
transformers.
7
.
How does a substation work?
Transformers ‘step
down’ the
electricity from the
high voltage
needed to
economically
transmit the
electricity.
How does
a substation
.
work?
There are
detectors for fire
and line breaks.
There is
automatic fire
suppression.
A quick picture of how substation
works
Can a substation harm
me?.
The short
answer is YES!
That’s why there
are fences
around them.
They can
electrocute
people.
So why do we have
substations?
.
We need them to
cheaply transfer
electricity.
Substations are a
part of what we call
essential
infrastructure.
Essential Infrastructure
Railroads & bridges
Streets &
highways
Pipelines for natural gas
& other chemicals
Water & wastewater treatment
plants
Radio, cell phone &
microwave towers
How would you...
explain the need for substations to a
6 year old?
demonstrate what a substation does?
describe how voltages need to be
changed for use to use it safely?