I think it is known.
where I am sitting now there was a power station in the 1890s was built for the mining industry and then allowed consumers to connect, only operated shall we say during business hours. Actually where I used to live in the UK was sort of similar but a hydro system, there was no expectation of reliable 24/7 supply
Power was generated near where it was used.
The grid was developed to share and balance supply but in the min if there was a major demand you built. Power station there to supply. Easier to transport say coal than transmission lines and more reliable.
Now we are using power supplies that are by their very nature intermittent and often not located near the user, and of course there needs to be way more storage and transmission which of course has not been done