What are the factors affecting the electric power industry?

Answer 1

Resistance

Resistance is one of the biggest factors affecting power flow in a network. Resistance impedes the flow of electricity. Every element of an electric network has some amount of resistance. The electricity and power of a network will follow the path of least resistance. In order to calculate the power of a resistive element, such as a resistor, at least two of three things need to be known: the resistance of the element, the voltage across the element and/or the current through the element. The power of an element can be calculated either by voltage times current; current squared times resistance; or voltage squared divided by resistance. Load

The type of load attached to a network will affect a networks power flow as well. A resistor connected as a load to a network will generate a constant power flow. An electric motor will generate a very high power during startup due to the high current needed to start the motor. As the motor reaches its normal speed, the power needed will drop and stabilize to a fairly constant state. The power needed from the network will remain constant as long as the motor's speed and load are constant. If the motor's load increases, the power needed from the network will increase. Circuit Type

There are two basic types of circuits, series and parallel circuits. In a series circuit, all of the current flows through one load. In a parallel circuit, there are multiple paths for the current to supply multiple loads. Each branch gets a fraction of the current depending on the resistance of each branch element. This also means that each branch will use a different amount of power.