First Long-Distance Power Transmission

Date: June 3, 1889 • Location: North Portland, United States

The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. A long conductor used to facilitate such movement is called a transmission line. The interconnected transmission lines form a transmission network. In the power industry, electric power transmission is distinct from the local wiring between high-voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electric power distribution, even though power distribution is semantically a type of power transmission in common parlance. The combined transmission and distribution network is part of electricity delivery, known as the electrical grid.