ELECTRAGE Electrage 2013-14 | Page 29

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING            The first electric battery was developed by Alessandro Volta about 200 years ago. He discovered that when two strips of different metals were put in a sulphuric acid solution and connected with a wire, electricity began to flow. Electric eels can produce strong electric shocks of around 500 volts for both self defence and hunting. Lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning bolts can travel at around 210,000 kph, and reach nearly 30,000 °C in temperature. The first power plant - owned by Thomas Edison - opened in New York City in 1882. Thomas Edison invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters T&D Losses in India (33%) is one of the worst in the world. Installed power plant capacity has to be 2.2 times the electrical load due to low plant load factor and T&D Losses. Tata Power was the first to be awarded a Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Mudra (in coastal Gujarat) and has also been the first to financially close a UMPP With a generation capacity of 4000 MW(5 x 800 MW). Gujarat stands at 2nd position and Maharashtra at 4th position as far as the Energy Saving Potential is concerned. The potential for Energy Savings in Gujarat is 7,928 Million Units and Maharashtra is 7,757 Million Units. Electrical Motors consume 60% of all electricity generated and account for loss of 20% of all electricity converted in mechanical energy. 1% Voltage unbalance increases motor losses by 5%. Solar Energy Incident on Earth's Surface for 1 Hour is sufficient to power the earth for 1 year. Even a small motor of 7.5 kW consumes electricity worth 26 Lakhs in 10 years. Initial cost of a motor is only 1% of the running cost for 10 years. 28