Electricity generation

The other three processes are electric power transmission, electricity distribution and electricity retailing.

The demand for electricity can be met in two different ways.

The primary method thus far has been for public or private utilities to construct large scale centralized projects to generate and transmit the electricity required to fuel economies.

Many of these projects have caused unpleasant environmental effects such as air or radiation pollution and the flooding of large areas of land.

Distributed generation creates power on a smaller scale at locations throughout the electricity network.

Often these sites generate electricity as a byproduct of other industrial processes such as using gas from landfills to drive turbines.