How the UK Grid Works

Description

Ever wondered how electricity actually gets from offshore wind farms or nuclear plants in France all the way to your plug socket? In this video, I break down exactly how the UK power grid works — from generation, transmission and distribution, to the physics of voltage, current, Ohm’s law, power factor, and frequency.

We'll explore:

What pylons, substations, transformers and cables really do

Why we use 3-phase AC power and how voltage levels affect efficiency

How capacitor banks help correct power factor

The difference between real, reactive and apparent power

Why underground cables are so limited and when we use HVDC

And how all of this fits together to form the UK National Grid

Whether you're an engineering student, a curious mind, or someone working in the energy industry, this is a visual guide to understanding the electric grid in the UK. There's so many topics that I've missed out or only covered briefly in this video because the system is so interesting so I'll be covering it video by video.

🧠 Have a question or want to suggest a topic? Leave a comment below. I read them all!

Corrections:
5:50 240V typically but 230 is also correct, see next correction.
23:35 Typical voltage in the UK is 240V which is in the EU harmonised range set by BS EN 5016 which is 230 V ±10%. Before this, BS 7697: 1993 was 230 V +10% / −6%, i.e. 216 V – 253 V
For the sake of the video though 400 root 3 gives you 230. 415V root 3 = 239.6V. Close enough!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:35 "Pylons" and Cables
1:30 Substations Brief
2:45 Ohms Law
5:00 Power
5:35 Power Transmission
6:55 Drawbacks of Cables
10:13 Three Phase Power
10:58 Real, Reactive, Apparent Power
12:30 Power Factor
15:34 Frequency
20:20 Grid Structure
22:20 DNOs
23:08 Distribution
23:38 Phase and Line Voltage
24:30 Fault Current