What was Edison's business plan for D.C.? Did he think it would be more profitable to have a large number of generating facilities? Did he just not want to lose to Tesla's A.C. power?
As far as Edison's business plan for DC current, he was indeed a systems thinker. Thomas Edison knew that in order for the light bulb to be of value, he had to find a way to deliver electricity to the home. Edison launched the modern electric utility industry with the creation of the Pearl Street station in lower Manhattan in 1882.
Edison thought he had a great plan, create DC power plants, sell light bulbs. Edison's failure was he never thought someone would come along with a different plan, with a better way of delivering electricity to our homes. That was George Westinghouse. If you search on War of Currents you will find a ton of Tesla versus Edison pictures. Do you know that when the War of Currents started, Tesla was not yet in the picture? The War of Currents started with Edison Electric versus Westinghouse Electric in 1886. Tesla signed on with the Westinghouse team in 1888.
Westinghouse doesn't get remembered much, he was a quiet fellow who lived in Pittsburgh. He used his fame and fortune from his inventions in the railroad industry to fund his ideas on AC current distribution systems. He hired some of the best and the brightest to come work with him, that's where Tesla came along.
Edison was the high pressure salesman selling his ideas on the streets of New York city. Edison's plan was to use his fame and fortune to discredit Westinghouse, and to use every dirty trick in the book to make AC power look too dangerous. Edison would admit later in life that his obsession with winning the War of Currents was a big mistake. He never expected that quiet fellow from Pittsburgh to beat him out.
From the War of Currents to the history of electricity in homes (https://geekhistory.xyz/content/war-currents-history-electricity-homes)
George Westinghouse used Tesla power to defeat Edison in Currents War (https://geekhistory.com/content/george-westinghouse-used-tesla-power-defeat-edison-currents-war)
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