Battle of the Current - Paving the way of battle

Electricity is the key to make us masters of our environment, and most of us take it as a crucial part of our lives. But 150 years ago this was not the case. In the middle of the 19th century labor took place at only sun lit day time, and work itself was manual in slow motion without the aid of machinery. At night people stayed at home to avoid associated risks at night. Over the next century and half we transformed the environment dominated us to an environment dominated by us. Today we experience an electrified environment that responds to our many needs, with power that was transmitted through hundreds of miles in an interconnected transmission grid.

Emerging concept of electricity

In 600BC Greeks first discovered the static electricity that could be generated by rubbing amber, however it wasn’t until 18th century Benjamin Franklin theorized that electrical fluid is made up of charged particles. By harnessing this flow of particles or electrical current, engineers have laid the foundation, what would become the colossus of the modern electricity system, the Power Plant.

Nevertheless the successful integration of this power plants and commercial usage with domestic applications of the power, were made by conflicts aroused between two innovative industrial giants, “Thomas Edison” and “George Westinghouse”. The outcome or the winner of this competition would dominate and dictate how electrical generation and transmission would take place. The competition initiated as a battle to bring safer and low cost electricity to New Yorkers.

Thomas Edison

Nikola Tesla

George Westinghouse

Early, before the electricity, natural gas was made to light the streets and homes of people which were very dangerous. If the lamps went out the gas would continuously get accumulated in the room which eventually will lead to an explosion as there were no shut off valves or to control or detect any malfunction.

Edison and DC system

Poster: Edison's Electric Lamps

Eliminating these limitations, In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb which emitted light when heated by passing a low current. Soon he made a design for a complete system for lighting and power distribution method. On September 4th 1882 Edison opened the first electric utility to the mankind, the “Pearl Street Station”, in the heart of lower Manhattan financial district, New York, after many delays and cost overruns. Edison knew that this newly created product is going to be expensive and need to reach many customers in order to survive. However Edison’s choice of Direct Current (DC) made his product into a limited range and he could not transmit the power very far without losing tremendous amount of energy. So basically he would need a power plant every kilometer to provide consistent power to the public. As a consequence of it Edison’s distribution system and being a major investor in DC power, had a web of electric wires overhead, it has sometimes said that they blocked the sunlight at some places.

Edison's DC Distribution Network

Thomas Edison’s competitor George Westinghouse made his company, the “Westinghouse Electric” to perfect the Alternating Current (AC) as Westinghouse saw the future of the electrical industry hinge on long distance transmission. In this contest, Tesla was the key person who influenced AC system of Westinghouse electric company.

Tesla’s intervention

Nikolai Tesla, a Serbian born inventor perhaps the most important contributor to the development of human history as the inventor of power to change night into day, who paved the way to all of our modern electric conveniences with a simple flip of a switch, who envisioned the ground breaking concept for a new electric motor, for which the patent became the induction motor, which would go on to be the standard electric motor of the world.

In 1884, age 28, Tesla moved to New York with little money, to work for Thomas Edison. In fact Tesla redesigned Edison’s electric generators. Though Edison used Tesla’s brilliance, Tesla became unsatisfied with the compensation given to him and left Edison Tech eventually.

Paving the Battle

Tesla knew that there would be a better way to transmit power economically than the DC system and was determined to invent a new system, which would eventually be the global trend - the AC poly-phase system. In 1887 Tesla filed 7 new patents with designs encompass in Alternating Current.  The millionaire entrepreneur George Westinghouse thought that those inventions of Tesla will be the key to success in this battle and purchased all of the patents.

As future endurance of the products from both Edison and Westinghouse would largely depend on the electrification method, the war was initiated and developed gradually to ensure quality of relevant electrification systems. This was not a mere battle between Thomas Edison vs. George Westinghouse, this was essential as the technology won would dominate the industry for the foreseeable future.

For the next 2 decades, the battle of currents began both sides fighting for their own survival, even may be taking bitter turns. Expect the rest of the war of AC vs. DC from EnergyzEE.

Article By: Nirmal Undugoda

Posted in: Utility and Social