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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Grid, Transmission and Distribution

Substation

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

/ˈsʌbsteɪʃən/nounCore term

In energy & renewables, substation means: A site with transformers, switches and protection equipment where voltage is raised or lowered and power flows are switched between lines.

In Turkish: trafo merkezi, indirici merkez, şalt sahası

How it is used

Part of every grid connection discussion. A project connects to a substation; substations are built, expanded and energised. Step-up substations at power plants raise the voltage; step-down substations near cities lower it.

Example sentences

  1. The wind farm connects to the grid at a 154 kV substation 12 km away.

  2. The outage started with a fault in the substation transformer.

Common collocations

  • step-up substation
  • step-down substation
  • connect to a substation
  • substation transformer
  • build a substation
  • transformerA device that raises or lowers the voltage of alternating current. Transformers make long-distance transmission possible and bring the voltage down to safe levels for users.
  • grid connectionThe physical link and the formal permission that allow a power plant, storage system or large consumer to send electricity to, or take it from, the grid.
  • transmission lineA high-voltage power line, usually on tall steel towers, that carries large amounts of electricity over long distances from power plants to substations.
  • high voltageA voltage level used to move electricity efficiently over long distances, such as 154 kV or 380 kV. The exact limits of low, medium and high voltage differ between standards.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Grid, Transmission and Distribution

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