The Grid: Powering America

The nation’s electric grid is a continent-spanning machine that transports electricity hundreds of miles from where it’s generated to where it’s needed.

And every second of every day, electricity flows across the nation, powering your lights, your TV, your toothbrush, and so much more.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people all over the nation work around the clock ensure that at every second of every day, electricity supply matches the demand. These people make sure the grid remains reliable and able to function at all times, even in the face of potential disruptions.

Grid operators in control rooms monitor where electricity is needed and where it’s flowing. Every time you turn on your TV, plug in your laptop, run the dishwasher, flip on a light switch, or turn up your air conditioning, electricity is needed. Now multiply that by hundreds of millions of residential and commercial buildings, including houses, apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, data centers, business centers, manufacturing plants, and more.

Everything connected to the grid uses electricity in different ways, at different times, and at different power levels. And because the grid was not designed to store a lot of energy, grid operators manage the flow of electricity at all hours of the day, delivering it almost instantaneously to meet demand.

That’s why grid operations have gone more digital in the past few decades—human brains alone cannot manage the ever-increasing complexities of the grid. Utilities have adopted increasingly powerful digital tools to help manage the grid, including powerful computers, machine-learning, and artificial intelligence.

There are grid operators who work on the bulk system—such as a large geographical region—and on a smaller distribution system, such as an individual city.

All these grid operators work together to deliver electricity.