Electrical power plant
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This article is about Electrical power plants. For other uses of the term Power, please see Power (disambiguation).
An electrical power plant converts other forms of energy to electrical power, and either uses it to provide local requirements or transmits it into an electrical transmission grid. Multiple technical approaches exist to achieve this general goal, and they are usually classified by the source of energy employed and by the way this source is being processed:
- Biomass power plant [r]: An electrical power plant which produces electricity by burning biomass solids in a steam generator that heats water, which is then used to generate electricity. [e]
- Coal-fired power plant [r]: A generic term for several kinds of industrial plants which produce electricity by burning coal. [e]
- Conventional coal-fired power plant [r]: An electrical power plant that burns coal in a steam generator to produce high pressure steam, which goes to steam turbines that generate electricity. [e]
- Integrated gasification combined cycle power plant [r]: A non-conventional coal-fired power plant in which the coal is gasified to produce a synthetic gas which is then burned in a gas turbine that drives an electrical generator, while steam is produced by recovering waste heat from the gas turbine exhaust, and used to drive another electrical generator. [e]
- Fluidized bed combustion power plant [r]: A non-conventional coal-fired power plant in which the coal is burned in a fluidized bed and steam is produced by heating and vaporizing feedwater flowing through tubes in and above the fluidized bed; the steam is used to drive an electrical generator. [e]
- Oxygen firing power plant [r]: An electrical power plant similar to a conventional coal-fired power plant but with oxygen instead of air being used for the combustion of the coal. [e]
- Combined cycle power plant [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Combined cycle gas turbine power plant [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Fossil fuel power plant [r]: An electrical power plant that converts the combustion heat energy derived from burning a fossil fuel, such as coal, natural gas or a petroleum fuel oil, into electricity. The combustion heat energy may be used to generate steam for a steam turbine that drives an electrical generator or it may be used directly in a gas turbine or internal combustion engine to drive an electric generator. [e]
- Gas turbine power plant [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Geothermal power plant [r]: An electrical power plant that extracts heat energy stored beneath Earth's surface and uses it to generate electricity. [e]
- Hydroelectric power plant [r]: An electrical power plant that generates electric power by converting the energy in falling or flowing water into electricity; water is directed through turbines which spin to generate electricity. [e]
- Natural gas-fired power plant [r]: An industrial plant which produces electricity by burning natural gas in a steam generator that heats water to produce high-pressure steam that flows through a series of steam turbines which spin an electrical generator to produce electricity. [e]
- Nuclear power plant [r]: A power plant, often electric, that uses the energy derived from controlled (non-explosive) nuclear reactions to generate electricity. Conventionally, nuclear power plants used the heat energy derived from nuclear fission to generate steam, which in turn generates electric power. [e]
- Oil-fired power plant [r]: An industrial plant which produces electricity by burning fuel oil in a steam generator that heats water to produce high-pressure steam that flows through a series of steam turbines which spin an electrical generator to produce electricity. [e]
- Solar power plant [r]: An electrical power plant that generates electricity directly from sunlight either by using photovoltaics or by focusing solar radiation into a concentrated beam of heat that is used to generate steam for conversion into electric power. [e]
- Thermal power plant [r]: An electric power plant in which all of the electricity is produced by using a heat source to generate steam that drives a steam turbine which rotates an electrical generator. [e]
- Tidal power plant [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Wind power plant [r]: Add brief definition or description