Transmission, Loads and Power Pools

Vincent Kaminski

This chapter will cover the transmission of electricity and review the characteristics of different loads.¹¹The word load has multiple meanings in the power business. It refers either to aggregate electricity requirements of a given class of users or to specific devices consuming electricity. The last section will look at the design principles of power pools, the entities responsible for coordinating the activities of generators, transporters and consumers of electricity. The production and consumption of electricity have to be balanced at each point in time (electricity is not storable from a system point of view), and understanding how this happens is critical not only for physical electricity traders but also for investors in physical assets and electricity derivative traders. This is not an easy task, which explains why electricity trading is an occupation for the best and the brightest, as well as for those with a lot of courage. Integrated generation–transmission systems, very complex and difficult to understand from the technological point of view, are managed by organisations operating within a system of rules which are sometimes inconsistent and often contradictory. The