#96 - What are the sources of electricity in Montana?

Where does electricity come from? . . .
There are several ways to make (generate) electricty. Three things are needed: a magnet, a wire, and motion. If you were to take a magnet and move it in close proximity to a wire, you would cause an electrical current to flow within the wire. Within a generator, wires and magnets are organized so that a current will be produced in the wires if motion is provided. Generators can be designed to utilize all sorts of motion ranging from the peddling motion of a bicycle to the motion of water through the bottom of a dam. At coal-fired plants, coal is burned to heat water. As the water changes to steam it shoots through a turbine, providing the motion. A similar process happens at nuclear power plants where nuclear fuel heats the water. With wind generators, the wind turns propeller-shaped turbines to generate electricity. CLICK HERE to watch a YouTube video that shows how wind can generate electricity.

The Treasure State . . .
Montana produces more electricity than we need, so much of the electricity generated in Montana electricity goes to other western states, including Washington, Oregon, and California via major transmission lines. The map atop this page shows how we generate electricity, where it is produced, and how much comes from each source. The big gray spot in southeastern Montana is the location of the coal-fired generators at Colstrip. The blue spots in northwest Montana are hydroelectric dams. Notice the abundance of dams in the Washington and Oregon. The abundance and variety of power plants in the eastern half of the USA is due to the fact that there are so many more people who live there compared to the west of the Mississippi.

Based on 2017 information . . .
Check out this interesting Washington Post site(updated in 2017), which includes several informative graphics. Everyone should have some sense of where electricity comes from. Once the site opens, be sure to scroll down to where it says, "Click to rearrange" and then select the different types of energy to see how much electricity is generated from each source in every state.