How do Power Plant Work ?

 What is Power Plants ?

power station, also referred to as a power plant or powerhouse and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.  A power plant or a power generating station, is basically an industrial location that is utilized for the generation and distribution of electric power in mass scale, usually in the order of several 1000 Watts. These are generally located at the sub-urban regions or several kilometers away from the cities or the load centers, because of its requisites like huge land and water demand, along with several operating constraints like the waste disposal etc.

Types of Power Station :

A power plant can be of several types depending mainly on the type of fuel used :

  1. Thermal Power Station

A thermal power station or a coal fired thermal power plant is by far, the most conventional method of generating electric power with reasonably high efficiency. It uses coal as the primary fuel to boil the water available to superheated steam for driving the steam turbine.The steam turbine is then mechanically coupled to an alternator rotor, the rotation of which results in the generation of electric power.

Thermal Power Plant

In coal thermal power plant, the steam is produced in high pressure in the steam boiler due to burning of fuel (pulverized coal) in boiler furnaces. This steam is further supper heated in a super heater. This supper heated steam then enters into the turbine and rotates the turbine blades. The turbine is mechanically so coupled with alternator that its rotor will rotate with the rotation of turbine blades. After entering in turbine the steam pressure suddenly falls and corresponding volume of the steam increases. After imparting energy to the turbine rotor the steam passes out of the turbine blades into the condenser. In the condenser the cold water is circulated with the help of pump which condenses the low pressure wet steam. This condensed water is further supplied to low pressure water heater where the low pressure steam increases the temperature of this feed water, it is again heated in high pressure.

2. Nuclear Power Station

The nuclear power generating stations are similar to the thermal stations in more ways than one. How ever, the exception here is that, radioactive elements like uranium and thorium are used as the primary fuel in place of coal. Also in a Nuclear station the furnace and the boiler are replaced by the nuclear reactor and the heat exchanger tubes.

Nuclear Power Plant

3. Hydro electric Power Station

In Hydro-electric plants the energy of the falling water is utilized to drive the turbine which in turn runs the generator to produce electricity. Rain falling upon the earth’s surface has potential energy relative to the oceans towards which it flows. This energy is converted to shaft work where the water falls through an appreciable vertical distance. The hydraulic power is therefore a naturally available renewable energy given by the eqn:
P = gρ QH
Where, g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/sec 2
ρ = density of water = 1000 kg/m 3
H = height of fall of water.

hydro power plant

The most common type of hydroelectric power plant is an impoundment facility. An impoundment facility, typically a large hydropower system, uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which in turn activates a generator to produce electricity.

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