I had this doubt since many years.My question is:
Suppose there is a Thermal AC power station.It generates power and the voltage is step up and transmitted.Again it is step down and finally reaches us..consider U and I are the only customers and it has no grid..,and if both of us did not use it,what happens to the power?does it go waste?please explain.thanks in advance

 

It would be like an open circuit generator, where it's very easy to spin because there is no current resisting with magnetic force.
Turbines would speed up and the frequency and voltage would increase.

On the actual grid they control the generators precisely to maintain frequency and voltage and predict how much load there will be and plan ahead. If left unattended bad things would happen.

 

http://www.dynamicdemand.co.uk/grid.htm

 

It would be like an open circuit generator, where it's very easy to spin because there is no current resisting with magnetic force.
Turbines would speed up and the frequency and voltage would increase.

On the actual grid they control the generators precisely to maintain frequency and voltage and predict how much load there will be and plan ahead. If left unattended bad things would happen.

I get it..and you mean to say that there are no such abrupt open loads.power generated is already planned..
@kubeek,Nice link..
thanks

 

I get it..and you mean to say that there are no such abrupt open loads.power generated is already planned..

Of course there are times when the loading on a generator can be suddenly cut off, perhaps due to an opening of the main circuit breaker or a fault in the transmission line.

When that occurs, lot of things happened inside the power station to control the aftermath of the loss of generator loading.

Suffice to say it is a big stress on the generator-turbine system but ultimately because of the safety concern the whole scenario has to be recreated once every month(s) to actually prove that the control system can deal with it properly.