Blog 12

 Technology, innovation and scale have revolutionized our lives

Electric industry revolution  is underway a two-way system is  developing where we continue to see  power being delivered to the people but  we see power coming from  the people. big idea we're  rapidly moving to a future where we power consumers will also be power  providers. It's exciting that it's happening  now and we all need to be aware of this  massive transformation before we talk  about that future. The  present tricky thing about  electricity is it has to be generated in  real time the power needed to power my  microphone light these lights amplify  these speakers. It was generated just  recently someone has to make sure the  right amount of electricity is generated  minute by minute not  miles away from  here is a control center that does just  that it's operated by a company called  micelle. 

The midcontinent  Independent System Operator ,where work not for two  very different things  so we ensure the right amount of  electricity is generated and transmitted  to the utilities who then distribute it  to homes schools and businesses we keep  the power flowing and the lights on  every day for  million It is   control rooms look like something you'd  expect to see at NASA at our main center  nine-foot tall glass panels stretch half  a football field long  rare screen  projectors display real-time grid  information our operators are there /   now my soul operates the power grid  from coast to coast longitudinally  speaking from the coast of the Great  Lakes down to the Gulf Shore coast. 

Our  region touches  States and includes  the Canadian province of Manitoba within  our region  my so manages , miles of high  voltage transmission line enough wire to  wrap around the earth more than two and  a half times the size of our region is  so big that wind power generated in  Minnesota can be used by homeowner in  Mississippi now I mentioned that power  has to be generated in real time to make  sure that happens  every five minutes one of our operators  hits a button that sends a signal out to  the generators to let them know whether  they should increase power.