Substation

How it is used

Used in transmission and distribution. Engineers design, commission, operate and maintain substations, and talk about the switchyard, busbars, feeders and protection relays. Small units that supply a neighbourhood are called distribution substations or kiosks.

Example sentences

1. The new factory will have its own 34.5 kV substation.

2. A fault at the substation left the whole district without power for two hours.

Common collocations

• distribution substation
• transformer substation
• substation equipment
• commission a substation

Related terms

• transformerA device that transfers AC power from one winding to another through a shared magnetic core, usually to step the voltage up or down. It does not work with DC.
• gridThe interconnected network of power plants, transmission lines, substations and distribution lines that delivers electricity to consumers. It is also called the power grid or the mains.
• transmission lineA high-voltage line, usually overhead on towers, that carries large amounts of power over long distances. In electronics, the term also means a cable or trace whose impedance has to be controlled.
• circuit breakerAn automatic switch that opens a circuit when it detects too much current, for example from an overload or a short circuit. Unlike a fuse, it can be reset and used again.
• single-line diagramA simplified drawing of a power system in which one line represents all the conductors of a circuit. It shows sources, transformers, breakers, busbars and loads, and how they are connected.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• substation · Energy & Renewables

More terms: Power Systems and Electrical Machines

• load
• three-phase
• motor
• battery
• generator
• inverter
• rectifier
• phase