Hundreds of thousands of switches and circuit breakers must be operated manually, and the main transmission lines have little instrumentation to monitor the second-by-second flow of electricity from unpredictable new sources like windmills.

FORBES: Juicing the System

Meralco says it is not interested in the NPC's 230-kilovolt main transmission line, but just in the 115-kv subsidiary link to the southern Luzon provinces of Cavite and Laguna, where the country's major industries - Meralco's customers - are situated.

CNN: Up from the Ocean

The alliance's manifesto calls for measures to reduce demand on the main electricity transmission grid, including smart meters, encouragement for community and small-scale local energy generation, and further research on methods of storage of electricity.

BBC: Fears over pylons in beauty spots

The new Focus will be built on one platform and will have the same engine, transmission, chassis and main body in all the markets where it is sold.

ECONOMIST: Innovative marketing helped Ford��s recovery

It fell onto the main north-south high voltage power transmission line.

BBC: Crane driver mistake plunges Vietnam into darkness

The main drawbacks are cost and the added weight of the equipment needed for satellite transmission.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The main reason for wanting to install superconducting power lines in cities is not, perhaps surprisingly, to reduce transmission losses.

ECONOMIST: Superconducting power cables

The other main joint venture, Ford-led Ecostar, takes the machinery from Stuttgart and fits it into electric motors, transmission and control equipment to make a fuel-cell engine that can turn the wheels of a car or a bus.

ECONOMIST: Fuel cells: Intel on wheels | The