Energy · Recorded milestone
National electricity grid
Recorded year1926
Britain's Electricity Act sets up a national grid, finished in 1933, tying many power stations to millions of homes.
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Led to
- Electric steam ironRecorded · 1926enables
- Home TV setRecorded · 1928requires
- Iron lungRecorded · 1928enables
- Electric dishwasherRecorded · 1929enables
- Electric razorRecorded · 1931enables
- Sodium street lampRecorded · 1932enables
- Window air conditionerRecorded · 1932enables
- Garbage disposalRecorded · 1935enables
- Multipurpose mega-damRecorded · 1936enables
- Kitchen blenderRecorded · 1937enables
- Building heat pumpRecorded · 1938enables
- Clothes dryerRecorded · 1938enables
- Gas-turbine generationRecorded · 1939requires
- Home freezerRecorded · 1940requires
- Home power drillRecorded · 1946enables
- Heart-lung machineRecorded · 1953enables
- Electric toothbrushRecorded · 1954enables
- HVDC transmissionRecorded · 1954enables
- Nuclear power plantRecorded · 1954enables
- Automatic electric kettleRecorded · 1955enables
- Automatic rice cookerRecorded · 1955enables
- Microwave ovenRecorded · 1955requires
- Electric can openerRecorded · 1956enables
- Water flosserRecorded · 1962enables
- High-speed railRecorded · 1964requires
- Home treadmillRecorded · 1968enables
- Slow cookerRecorded · 1971enables
- Drip coffee makerRecorded · 1972enables
- Large-scale desalinationRecorded · 1977requires
- Smart electricity meterRecorded · 1977enables
- Compressed-air energy storageRecorded · 1978requires
- Energy-saving bulbRecorded · 1980enables
- Utility-scale wind farmRecorded · 1980enables
- Inverter heat pumpRecorded · 1981requires
- Bagless cyclone vacuumRecorded · 1983requires
- Bread machineRecorded · 1986requires
- Vanadium flow batteryRecorded · 1986requires
- Channel TunnelRecorded · 1994requires
- Cloud computingRecorded · 2006requires
- LED light bulbRecorded · 2008requires
- Modern electric carRecorded · 2008requires
- LED vertical farmingRecorded · 2015requires
- Plug-in balcony solarRecorded · 2015enables
- Grid-scale batteriesRecorded · 2017requires
- Exascale supercomputerRecorded · 2022requires
- Cars that power the gridRecorded · 2024requires
- Electrified chemical plantsRecorded · 2024enables
- Gravity storageRecorded · 2024requires
- Sodium-ion grid storageRecorded · 2024requires
- Multi-day iron-air batteriesRecorded · 2025requires
- Enhanced geothermal powerRecorded · 2026requires
- Gigawatt AI campusesForecast · ~2027enables
- Hydrogen salt-cavern storageForecast · ~2027requires
- Solid-state transformersForecast · ~2028enables
- Solid-state cooling appliancesForecast · ~2032requires
- Fusion pilot power plantForecast · ~2038requires
- Superconducting maglev lineForecast · ~2038requires
- Superconducting energy banksForecast · ~2070requires
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.