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Courtyard

Saturday, 1 August 2026/Edition 555

Our lead explains why one substation in Kwara operates at three different voltages at once — and why a network built on only one of them would not work at all.

An aerial view of a transmission substation, showing parallel busbars running the length of the yard between rows of switchgear, with overhead lines arriving from three pylons.

Four transformers, three voltage levels and eighteen line bays — and what all of it is for on the day something goes out of service.

By The Courtyard··11 min read

Explainer

A substation connecting 380 kV to 110 kV at Ennigerloh, Germany, seen from the air. The parallel runs down the middle are the busbars — the common connection every line and transformer in the yard is switched on to.

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    An occasional letter on the engineering behind the projects we cover — what a piece of equipment actually does, and why a network is built the way it is. No schedule it cannot keep.

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