Inaugural address. The electricity supply industry¿yesterday, today and tomorrow

The Address is primarily concerned with the engineering aspects of the electricity supply industry at three points in time. The first part considers the immediate prewar years when electricity was supplied by widely varying undertakings. Aspects of generation, transmission, distribution and utilisation are considered in turn and comparisons are made with the present day where appropriate. The second Section deals with topics which are of major importance and interest today with a brief historical development being given where relevant. Particular attention is afforded to the Supergrid, the large generating sets, nuclear power, the explosion in light-current engineering techniques and equipment and to the needs of the customer and his uses for electricity. In the final part, an attempt is made to look into the future. After considering the prospects for electricity sales and the availability of various forms of energy, a review and assessment are made of the electricity-generation options open to the industry. The possibilities for the transmission and distribution of this energy are then discussed, and the paper ends with a brief review of the uses to which electricity might be put.