Pearl Street power station

What it is

The first commercial power station generating and distributing electricity (direct current) to subscribers, with meters and underground wiring. It inaugurated electricity as a public utility.

Holborn Viaduct (London, January 1882) was an earlier Edison installation, but of a demonstrative character.

What it led to

• The electric utility business model, with a network of subscribers
• Urban electrification and competition with gas lighting
• The War of the Currents with Westinghouse

Built on

• Separate-condenser steam engine1765-1769
• Electric generator and self-excited dynamo1832-1867
• Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boiler1867
• Practical incandescent light bulb1879
• Godalming public electricity supply1881

Made possible

• Electric elevator1880–1889
• AC transformer and distribution1884–1886
• Induction electricity meter (Shallenberger)1888-1894
• AC distribution network

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