Wiktionary
n. An electricity transmission network servicing a whole country.
Wikipedia
The National Grid is the high-voltage electric power transmission network in Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere.
The UK grid is connected as a wide area synchronous grid running at 50 hertz. There are also undersea interconnections to northern France ( HVDC Cross-Channel), Northern Ireland ( HVDC Moyle), the Isle of Man ( Isle of Man to England Interconnector), the Netherlands ( BritNed) and the Republic of Ireland ( EirGrid).
On the breakup of the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1990, the ownership and operation of the National Grid in England and Wales passed to National Grid Company plc, later to become National Grid Transco, and now National Grid plc. In Scotland the grid split into two separate entities, one for southern and central Scotland and the other for northern Scotland, connected by interconnectors to each other. The first is owned and maintained by SP Energy Networks, a subsidiary of Scottish Power, and the other by SSE. However, National Grid plc remains the System Operator for the whole UK Grid.
National Grid may refer to an electrical grid
National Grid, Malaysia is the high-voltage electric power transmission network in Peninsular Malaysia. It is operated and owned by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) by its Transmission Division. There are two other electrical grids in Sabah and Sarawak operated by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) respectively.
The system spans the whole of Peninsular Malaysia, connecting electricity generation stations owned by TNB and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to energy consumers. A small number of consumers, mainly steel mills and shopping malls also take power directly from the National Grid.
The National Grid is the nationwide system of electric power transmission in New Zealand. The national electricity transmission grid is owned, operated, and maintained by state-owned enterprise Transpower New Zealand, although some lines are owned by local distribution companies and leased to Transpower. In total, the national grid contains of high-voltage lines and 178 substations.
Much of New Zealand’s electricity generation is hydro-electric. The majority of this generation is from stations established on lakes and rivers in the lower half of the South Island, while most of the electricity demand is in the North Island, in particular, the Auckland region. Consequently, large amounts of electricity need to be transmitted long distances over the grid, between generation and load, including transmission across Cook Strait, between the two islands, via the HVDC link.
Investments in new transmission are regulated by the Commerce Commission. In a news release in January 2012, the Commerce Commission reported that Transpower was planning to invest $5 billion over the next 10 years in upgrades of critical infrastructure.