A better filament was needed.

Edison found it in carbonized strips of bamboo.
Edison developed his own type of dynamo, the largest ever made up to that time, and, along with the Edison incandescent lamps, it was one of the wonders of the Paris Electrical Exposition of 1881.

The installation in Europe and America of plants for service followed.

Edison's first great central station, supplying power for three thousand lamps, was erected at Holborn Viaduct, London, in 1882, and in September of that year the Pearl Street Station in New York City, the first central station in America, was put into operation.
The incandescent lamp and the central power station, considered together, may be regarded as one of the most fruitful conceptions in the history of applied electricity.

It comprised a complete generating, distributing, and utilizing system, from the dynamo to the very lamp at the fixture, ready for use.