In the turbine hall at Drax, a power plant in the English county of Yorkshire, sit six monsters of angular momentum. They are massive—2,800 tonnes each—and complex, composed of 28 turbine sub-assemblies. And they spin on their axes 3,000 times per minute. Place your hand on the blue metal casing around one of them and your whole body thrums in harmony. The hall’s floor hums a flattened A three octaves below middle C that numbs the soles of your feet.

在英國約克郡德拉克斯發電廠的汽輪機房里，坐落著六臺角動量龐然大物。它們體積龐大——每臺重達2800噸——結構復雜，由28個汽輪機組件構成，每分鐘繞軸旋轉3000次。把你的手放在其中一臺的藍色金屬外殼上，整個身體會感受到嗡嗡的轟鳴，機房的地板上回蕩著比中央C音低三個八度的降A音，震得你腳底發麻。
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The turbines are driven by high-pressure steam produced in vast boilers that hang from the ceiling. The boilers’ walls are meticulously insulated, but you can still feel the heat of their 1,100°C (2,000°F) bellies at 20 paces. For most of Drax’s life those flames have been fed by a steady stream of coal, tens of thousands of tonnes of it pulverised and blasted into the blaze every day.

汽輪機由通向屋頂的巨大鍋爐產生的高壓蒸汽驅動。爐壁經過精心的隔熱處理，但你站在20步開外，仍然可以感受到1100°C（2000°F）的爐膛散發出的熱氣。通常情況下，德拉克斯發電廠由源源不斷的煤炭來維持燃燒，每天有數萬噸的煤被粉碎后吹到鍋爐中。

Today, in a sign of the times, most of Drax’s boilers burn biomass instead. The shift is part of the move towards renewables taking place around the world. Removing fossil fuels from electricity generation is universally seen as a necessary, but not sufficient, step towards stabilising the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The attractions are clear: much of the world already runs on electricity; there are many sources of non-fossil-fuel energy available, some very cheap; and increasing electricity’s share of total energy use by encouraging use of electric vehicles, heat pumps and the like looks comparatively easy.

作為當今時代的標志，德拉克斯發電廠的大多數鍋爐轉而燃燒生物質，這一轉變是全球向可再生能源轉型的一部分。為了穩定大氣中溫室氣體的濃度，人們普遍認為避免使用化石燃料發電是必要的措施，但僅此還不夠。吸引力是顯而易見的：世界上大部分地區已經用上電力，世界上有許多可供使用的非化石燃料能源，有的非常便宜；通過鼓勵人們使用電動汽車、熱泵及其他方式來增加電力在總能源消耗量中的比例，這看起來比較容易。

To abandon mines and oilfields in favour of energy from sunshine and thin air is not merely good climate policy. It has the appealing feeling, as electrification always has, of progress through dematerialisation. The thrilling, visceral sense of immensities in harness provided by the sights, sounds and vibrations of a turbine hall will become increasingly archaic. But if the production of electricity through motionless glass panels and blades turned by the wind seems effortless and futuristic, getting the gigawatts to the consumer will remain a very physical process.

放棄礦山和油田，轉而使用陽光和稀薄空氣產生能源，這不僅是有益的氣候政策，而且正如電氣化一樣，非物質化總是給人一種有吸引力的進步感。汽輪機房的景象、聲音、振動所帶來激動人心的磅礴感將變得越來越過時。但是，如果利用靜止的玻璃面板和風力帶動葉片來發電看起來毫不費力且充滿未來感，那么將千兆瓦電力輸送給消費者仍將是一個非常物質化的過程。

Within Drax, energy flows from fuel to flame to steam to spin; but to serve the world beyond the walls a last transformation is needed. The turbines’ driveshafts spin powerful magnets which are encircled by the copper wires of an electric generator. As the spinning magnets’ poles point first this way then that, their magnetic field pushes and pulls at the electrons in the generator’s wires, setting them aquiver with energy. This electromagnetic coupling bleeds off the turbine’s kinetic energy at exactly the same rate as the high-pressure steam replenishes it, thus making that energy available to anything connected to the generator in an electric circuit.

在德拉克斯發電廠，能源的傳遞順序依次為燃料、火焰、蒸汽、旋轉；但向外界傳輸電力還需要最后一個轉換環節。汽輪機的傳動軸旋轉強大的磁鐵，磁鐵被發電機的銅線所纏繞。當磁極在旋轉中變換方向時，磁場就會推拉發電機銅線中的電子，使它們產生能量。這種電磁耦合作用以高壓蒸汽補充動能的速度來釋放汽輪機的動能，從而使能量可用于電路中連接到發電機的任何東西。

For Drax, that circuit is Britain’s national grid. The 50 cycles a second (50hz) alternating current (ac) power available from pretty much every socket in the country is a national expression of the vibrating floors in Drax and other powerhouses. Its pulsations unite the spinning generators which feed it and all the devices plugged into it into a single vast machine.

對于德拉克斯發電廠來說，該電路是英國的國家電網。英國幾乎每個插座都能提供每秒50次周期性變化（50hz）的交流電，這是德拉克斯和其他發電廠的振動地板在全國的體現。它的脈沖將旋轉的發電機和與其連接的所有設備整合為一臺巨大的機器。

In the early days of mains electricity, customers were supplied with power by a generator devoted to their factory or from a single nearby power station. But the advantages of pooling resources soon became apparent. Generator frequencies were synchronised to 50hz (60hz in the United States and a few other places) so that high-voltage lines could combine currents from different generators. As high voltages are not good for consumers, transformers—a technology which only works in ac systems—were developed to step those high voltages down to lower domestic ones. The familiar architecture of pylons and substations housing transformers began to appear.

在使用市電的早期，消費者的電力是由工廠專用的發電機或附近的單座發電廠提供的，但集中資源的優勢很快就顯現出來。發電機頻率被同步到50hz（在美國等少數國家是60hz），這樣高壓電線可以將來自不同發電機的電流合并到一起。由于高壓電對消費者不利，所以研發出變壓器（這項技術只適用于交流電系統），將高壓電降為家用的低壓電。人們熟悉的裝有變壓器的輸電鐵塔和變電站開始出現。

That physical infrastructure made electricity supply look solid and static, part of the industrial furniture. That appearance can and does deceive. The grid is oddly immaterial and highly dynamic. Its conditions are endlessly subject to change because of a fundamental truth about electrical-power systems: supply has to match demand in real time.

這種物質性基礎設施使電力供應看起來堅固而靜止，使它成為一種工業裝置。這種表象可能而且確實具有欺騙性，電網具有奇怪的非物質性的和高度動態性，它的狀況在不斷發生變化，因為電力系統存在一個基本事實：電力的供應與需求必須實時匹配。

At any given time the amount of power being drawn out of the grid to do work—the load—has to be matched by what is going in. The amount of power being used by washing machines, lights, smart speakers, air conditioners, heart monitors, fan-assisted ovens and all the other components of modern life has to be the same as the amount being generated. This means that, as the electromagnetic drive train of a machine in which movement at one end—a spinning turbine—and movement at the other—a dishwasher, say—the grid is in constant flux. And so it needs constant supervision lest some sort of imbalance causes it to crash.

在任何時候，電網輸出的做功電量（即負荷）必須與輸入電量相匹配。洗衣機、電燈、智能音箱、空調、心臟檢測器、風扇輔助烤箱以及現代生活中的所有元器件的耗電量必須與發電量相同。這就好比一臺裝置里的電磁傳動系，一端是旋轉的汽輪機，另一端比方說是運轉的洗碗機，電網的狀況是不斷變化的，所以這需要不斷的監控，以免某種不平衡導致電網崩潰。

This machine kills carbon

該裝置能除碳

This complexity made increasing the size of grids a challenging task. But the benefits were seen as worth it. Patterns of use among a million users are statistically reliable in the way that the patterns within a single household are not. More predictable demand can be met by bigger, more efficient generators. Bigger grids allow bigger loads. It was the grids which allowed the smelting of aluminium, and thus the building of planes, on a new scale that made America the second world war’s “arsenal of democracy”. They allow economies of scale and geography in generation, too. By the 1960s it made sense to build behemoths like Drax next to Yorkshire’s coal field and distribute their power around the country.

這種復雜性使擴大電網成為一項具有挑戰性的任務，但帶來的益處還是值得的。百萬用戶的用電模式在統計上是可靠的，而單個家庭的用電模式則不然。更大、更高效的發電機可以滿足更易預測的用電需求，更大的電網承載更大的負荷，正是這種電網實現了鋁的冶煉，使飛機的制造達到了新的規模，美國由此成為二戰時期的“民主軍火庫”。它們還能實現規模經濟和形成地理環境，20世紀60年代，英國在約克郡的煤田附近建造德拉克斯這種巨大的發電廠，將電力輸送到全國各地是有道理的。

Now things have to change. At present, 62% of the energy delivered as electricity comes from fossil fuels; that has to come down to more or less zero. A lot of its replacement will be in the form of cheap wind and solar, and that presents a serious challenge to grid operators. It means a lot of new connections, which are troublesome. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that renewable installations typically generate less power than steam turbines do. That means more connections per unit of capacity.

現在情況必須改變。目前62%的電能來自化石燃料，這一比例必須要降為零。大量的替代能源將以廉價的風能和太陽能的形式出現，這對電網運營商構成了嚴峻的挑戰，這意味著需要新增大量的接入，這很麻煩?？稍偕茉丛O備的發電量往往低于蒸汽渦輪機，使該問題變得更加嚴重，這意味著單位容量需要更多的接入。

As well as adding a great many new connections, grids will also have to change shape. The places best suited to the generation of renewable energy in very large amounts are often not the places where today’s generation is concentrated. So new transmission lines will be needed. And because grids are complicated things, some of those expansions will require compensating changes elsewhere as bits of the grid become congested.

除了新增大量的接入，電網還必須改變形態。最適合大量生產可再生能源的地區往往不是現在發電集中的地區，所以需要增加新的輸電線路。由于電網很復雜，部分擴建需要對其他地區進行補償性改造，因為電網的某些部分會變得阻塞。

Renewables are also intermittent. An obvious way to lessen this problem is to expand grids so that they can access renewable resources over larger areas. Even if this is done, though, grids in which renewables play a large role will require connections to a lot of new energy storage. Some will be located alongside the renewables; some will not, complicating things further. To ease the storage challenge grids will also need access to demand-management systems through which they can reduce demand on various different time scales.

可再生能源還有間歇性問題。緩解該問題的顯著辦法是擴大電網，從而獲取廣大地區的可再生資源。但即使這樣做，以可再生能源為主的電網還需要接入大量的新儲能。有些儲能位于可再生能源的附近，有些則不然，這使情況變得更加復雜。為了緩解儲能的挑戰，電網還需要接入需求管理系統來減少不同時段的電力需求。

Last of all, various ways in which grids are controlled and balanced today are physically rooted in the way steam turbines generate power. They will need to be rethought. In the long run this is a welcome opportunity to make the system cheaper and more reliable. In the short term it is a requirement for yet more investment.

最后，當今調節和平衡電網的各種方式實際上是基于蒸汽輪機的發電方式，這方面有待于重新思考。從長遠來看，這是一個讓電網變得更便宜、更可靠的好機會。從短期來看，這需要更多的投資。

And in the midst of all this change, grids will also have to grow in capacity at a rate the developed world has not seen for many decades. As a lot of the things fossil fuels are used for—such as powering vehicles or heating houses—become electrified, demand will shoot up (see chart). Electricity makes up just 20% of the world’s energy consumption today, but in the future it “will be the backbone of the entire energy system”, says Gerhard Salge, chief technology officer of Hitachi Energy, one of the key suppliers of grid equipment. His firm estimates that by 2050 the world will need four times as much electricity generation as it has today, and three times as much transmission capacity.

在這些變化中，電網還必須以發達國家幾十年來前所未有的速度擴大容量。隨著化石燃料的許多用途——比如驅動汽車或房屋供暖——實現電氣化，電力需求將急劇上升。目前電力僅占全球能源消耗的20%，但在未來“將成為整個能源體系的支柱”，電網設備的主要供應商“日立能源”的首席技術官Gerhard Salge說道。該公司預測到2050年，世界需要的發電量將是現在的四倍，輸電容量將是現在的三倍。

The technologies to meet these challenges are for the most part already available, as this report will explain. A revolution in the application of solid-state electronics to power systems, combined with improved technology for building high-voltage direct-current circuits, is easing the connection of far-flung renewables to grids, helping to reduce congestion and making interconnections between grids easier to set up. These technologies should also provide ways of keeping grids stable as many of the huge turbines they have relied on as their pacemakers are retired.

正如本報道要闡述的，應對這些挑戰的大部分技術都已存在。固態電子技術在電力系統中的革命性應用，以及高壓直流電路的制造工藝得到改進，便于邊遠地區的可再生能源接入電網，有助于減少阻塞，使電網之間更容易建立互聯。這些技術還應該設法維持電網的穩定，因為作為電網起搏器的許多巨大汽輪機會被廢棄。
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But fielding them requires a huge amount of investment. A recent study by the Energy Transitions Commission, a coalition of companies and financial institutions, found that $1.1trn must be spent on the grid every year until 2050 if the world is to reach its net-zero goal. That is on top of the cost of new generating capacity.

但是，部署這些技術需要大量的投資。由企業和金融機構組成的能源轉型委員會最近的一項研究發現，如果世界要實現凈零排放目標，到2050年之前，每年必須向電網投入1.1萬億美元，這還不算新增的發電裝機容量的成本。
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It also requires a level of executive determination unprecedented outside times of all-out war. Steve Brick of the Clean Air Task Force, an American ngo, used to work in grid regulation. When he looks at maps showing the expansion of American transmission infrastructure which a decarbonised system is said to require, he says, “I put on my practical hat…and I say that’s not gonna happen.” Local opposition to new infrastructure may be the largest obstacle. It will not be the only one. If he is right, and the grid cannot expand at the rate needed to decarbonise the economy, there will either be a massive move towards decentralised systems, a failure to reduce emissions fast enough, or both.

另外還需要只有在全面戰爭時期才有的執行決心。美國非政府組織“凈化空氣任務組織”的史蒂夫·布里克曾經從事電網監管工作。當他從地圖上看到美國輸電基礎設施的擴建方案時（據說需要脫碳系統）他說：“實事求是地講，這是辦不到的”。當地居民反對新建基礎設施可能是最大的障礙，但不是唯一的障礙。如果如他所說的，電網的擴建速度達不到經濟脫碳的需求，那么要么向去中心化電力系統進行大規模轉型，并且無法快速減排，要么兩種情況共存。
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A degree of decentralisation in some markets is inevitable and will often be welcome. Roughly 1bn people, a large majority of them in Africa, currently lack any access to electricity. Local renewables can bring them some of its advantages more quickly than grid connections will. But there is good reason to think that modern grids moving copious energy over long distances will bring more energy to more of those who need it.

在某些市場中，一定程度的去中心化是不可避免的，而且往往受到歡迎。目前，全球約有10億人用不上電，其中絕大多數都在非洲。與接入電網相比，當地的可再生能源可以更快地給他們帶來一些優勢。但我們有充分理由相信，現代電網通過遠程輸送豐富的能源，將給更多需要的人帶來更多的能源。

If, that is, energy can be delivered to the grid in the first place. Connecting new resources to the grid is a tricky technical matter; it is also a procedure that is vulnerable to delays stemming from regulation, speculation, politics and protest. This is the problem we turn to first.

也就是說，要是從一開始將能源接入電網就好了。新能源接入電網是個技術難題，而且這一環節容易受到監管、投機、政治和抗議等因素的延誤，這正是我們首先要探討的問題。