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challenged and removed. (February 2011)

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, aboiling water reactornuclear power plant.

St. Clair Power Plant, a coal-fired plant in Michigan.

The Three Gorges Dam, a hydroelectricdam.

A power station (also referred to as a generating station, power plant, orpowerhouse)is an industrial facility for the generation ofelectric power.[1][2][3]

At the center of nearly all power stations is a generator, a rotating machine that convertsmechanical power into electrical powerby creating relative motion between a magnetic

field and a conductor. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Itdepends chiefly on which fuels are easily available, cheap enough and on the types of

technology that the power company has access to.

Central power stations produceAC power, after a briefBattle of Currentsin the 19thcentury demonstrated the advantages of AC distribution.
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Contents

[hide]

1 History

2 Thermal power stationso 2.1 Classification

2.1.1 By fuel 2.1.2 By prime mover

o 2.2 Cooling towers

3 Other sources of energy

o 3.1 Hydroelectricity

3.1.1 Pumped storage

o 3.2 Solar

o 3.3 Wind

4 Typical power output

5 Operations

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

[edit] History

The world's first power station was built by Sigmund Schuckert in the Bavaria town ofEttal and went into operation in 1878[4]. The station consisted of 24 dynamo electric

generators which were driven by a steam engine. It was used to illuminate a grotto in thegardens ofLinderhof Palace.

The first public power station was theEdison Electric Light Station, built in London at57, Holborn Viaduct, which started operation in January 1882. This was an initiative of

Thomas Edison that was organized and managed by his partner,Edward Johnson. A

Babcock and Wilcox boiler powered a 125 horsepower steam engine that drove a 27 ton

generator called Jumbo, after the celebrated elephant. This supplied electricity topremises in the area that could be reached through the culverts of the viaduct without

digging up the road, which was the monopoly of the gas companies. The customers

included the City Templeand the Old Bailey. Another important customer was the

Telegraph Office of the General Post Officebut this could not be reached though theculverts. Johnson arranged for the supply cable to be run overhead, via Holborn Tavern

andNewgate.[5]

In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Stationwas established by Edison toprovide electric lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area; the station ran until

destroyed by fire in 1890. The station used reciprocatingsteam enginesto turn direct-

current generators. Because of the DC distribution, the service area was small, limited by
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voltage drop in the feeders. TheWar of Currents eventually resolved in favor of AC

distribution and utilization, although some DC systems persisted to the end of the 20th

century. DC systems with a service radius of a mile (kilometer) or so were necessarilysmaller, less efficient of fuel consumption, and more labor intensive to operate than much

larger central AC generating stations.

AC systems used a wide range offrequenciesdepending on the type of load; lighting load

using higher frequencies, and traction systems and heavy motor load systems preferringlower frequencies. The economics of central station generation improved greatly when

unified light and power systems, operating at a common frequency, were developed. The

same generating plant that fed large industrial loads during the day, could feed commuterrailway systems during rush hour and then serve lighting load in the evening, thus

improving the system load factorand reducing the cost of electrical energy overall. Many

exceptions existed, generating stations were dedicated to power or light by the choice offrequency, and rotating frequency changersand rotating converters were particularly

common to feed electric railway systems from the general lighting and power network.

Throughout the first few decades of the 20th century central stations became larger, using

higher steam pressures to provide greater efficiency, and relying on interconnections ofmultiple generating stations to improve reliability and cost. High-voltage AC

transmission allowed hydroelectric powerto be conveniently moved from distant

waterfalls to city markets. The advent of the steam turbine in central station service,around 1906, allowed great expansion of generating capacity. Generators were no longer

limited by the power transmission of belts or the relatively slow speed of reciprocating

engines, and could grow to enormous sizes. For example,Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti

planned what would have been the largest reciprocating steam engine ever built for aproposed new central station, but scrapped the plans when turbines became available in

the necessary size. Building power systems out of central stations required combinationsof engineering skill and financial acumen in equal measure. Pioneers of central stationgeneration include George WestinghouseandSamuel Insull in the United States, Ferranti

andCharles Hesterman Merzin UK, and many others.

[edit] Thermal power stations
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Rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in power station.

Main article: Thermal power station

In thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that transforms

thermal energy, often from combustionof a fuel, into rotational energy. Most thermal

power stations produce steam, and these are sometimes called steam power stations. Notall thermal energy can be transformed into mechanical power, according to the second

law of thermodynamics. Therefore, there is always heat lost to the environment. If thisloss is employed as useful heat, for industrial processes ordistrict heating, the power

plant is referred to as acogeneration power plant or CHP (combined heat-and-power)

plant. In countries where district heating is common, there are dedicated heat plants

called heat-only boiler stations. An important class of power stations in the Middle Eastuses by-product heat for the desalination of water.

The efficiency of a steam turbine is limited by the maximum temperature of the steam

produced and is not directly a function of the fuel used. For the same steam conditions,

coal, nuclear and gas power plants all have the same theoretical efficiency. Overall, if asystem is on constantly (base load) it will be more efficient than one that is used

intermittently (peak load).

Besides use of reject heat for process or district heating, one way to improve overallefficiency of a power plant is to combine two different thermodynamic cycles. Most

commonly, exhaust gases from a gas turbine are used to generate steam for a boiler and

steam turbine. The combination of a "top" cycle and a "bottom" cycle produces higher

overall efficiency than either cycle can attain alone.

[edit] Classification

CHP plant in Warsaw, Poland.
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Geothermal power station in Iceland.

Coal Power Station in Tampa, United States.

Thermal power plants are classified by the type of fuel and the type of prime mover

installed.

[edit] By fuel

Fossil fuelled power plants may also use a steam turbine generator or in the case

ofnatural gasfired plants may use acombustion turbine. A coal-fired powerstation produces electricityby burning coal to generate steam, and has the side-effect of producing large amounts ofsulfur dioxide which pollutes air and water

andcarbon dioxide, which allegedly contributes to global warming. About 50% of

electric generation in the USA is produced by coal fired power plants

Nuclear power plants[6] use a nuclear reactor's heat to operate asteam turbine

generator. About 20% of electric generation in the USA is produced by nuclear

power plants.

Geothermal powerplants use steam extracted from hot underground rocks. Biomass-fuelled power plants may be fuelled bywaste from sugar cane,

municipal solid waste, landfill methane, or other forms ofbiomass.

In integrated steel mills,blast furnace exhaust gas is a low-cost, although low-energy-density, fuel.

Waste heat from industrial processes is occasionally concentrated enough to use

for power generation, usually in a steam boiler and turbine.

Solar thermal electric plants use sunlight to boil water, which turns the generator.

[edit] By prime mover
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Steam turbineplants use the dynamic pressure generated by expanding steam to

turn the blades of a turbine. Almost all large non-hydro plants use this system.

About 90% of all electric power produced in the world is by use of steamturbines.[7]

Gas turbineplants use the dynamic pressure from flowing gases (air and

combustion products) to directly operate the turbine. Natural-gas fuelled (and oilfueled) combustion turbine plants can start rapidly and so are used to supply

"peak" energy during periods of high demand, though at higher cost than base-

loaded plants. These may be comparatively small units, and sometimescompletely unmanned, being remotely operated. This type was pioneered by the

UK, Princetown[8] being the world's first, commissioned in 1959.

Combined cycleplants have both a gas turbine fired by natural gas, and a steam

boiler and steam turbine which use the hot exhaust gas from the gas turbine toproduce electricity. This greatly increases the overall efficiency of the plant, and

many new baseload power plants are combined cycle plants fired by natural gas.

Internal combustion reciprocating enginesare used to provide power for isolated

communities and are frequently used for small cogeneration plants. Hospitals,office buildings, industrial plants, and other critical facilities also use them to

provide backup power in case of a power outage. These are usually fuelled bydiesel oil, heavy oil, natural gas, andlandfill gas.

Microturbines, Stirling engine and internal combustion reciprocating engines are

low-cost solutions for using opportunity fuels, such as landfill gas, digester gas

from water treatment plants and waste gas from oil production.

[edit] Cooling towers

Cooling towers evaporating water atRatcliffe-on-Soar Power Station,United Kingdom.

All thermal power plants produce waste heat energy as a byproduct of the useful

electrical energy produced. The amount of waste heat energy equals or exceeds theamount of electrical energy produced. Gas-fired power plants can achieve 50%

conversion efficiency while coal and oil plants achieve around 3049%. The waste heat

produces a temperature rise in the atmosphere which is small compared to that ofgreenhouse-gas emissions from the same power plant. Natural draft wetcooling towers at

many nuclear power plants and large fossil fuel fired power plants use large hyperbolic

chimney-like structures (as seen in the image at the left) that release the waste heat to theambient atmosphere by the evaporation of water. However, the mechanical induced-draft
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or forced-draft wet cooling towers in many large thermal power plants, nuclear power

plants, fossil fired power plants,petroleum refineries,petrochemical plants,geothermal,

biomass and waste to energy plants use fans to provide air movement upward throughdowncoming water and are not hyperbolic chimney-like structures. The induced or

forced-draft cooling towers are typically rectangular, box-like structures filled with a

material that enhances the contacting of the upflowing air and the downflowing water.[9]

[10]

In areas with restricted water use a dry cooling tower or radiators, directly air cooled,

may be necessary, since the cost or environmental consequences of obtaining make-up

water for evaporative cooling would be prohibitive. These have lower efficiency andhigher energy consumption in fans than a wet, evaporative cooling tower.

Where economically and environmentally possible, electric companies prefer to use

cooling water from the ocean, or a lake or river, or a cooling pond, instead of a cooling

tower. This type of cooling can save the cost of a cooling tower and may have lower

energy costs for pumping cooling water through the plant's heat exchangers. However,the waste heat can cause the temperature of the water to rise detectably. Power plants

using natural bodies of water for cooling must be designed to prevent intake of organismsinto the cooling cycle. A further environmental impact would be organisms that adapt to

the warmer plant water and may be injured if the plant shuts down in cold weather.

Water consumption by power stations is a developing issue.[11]

In recent years, recycled wastewater, or grey water, has been used in cooling towers. The

Calpine Riverside and the Calpine Fox power stations in Wisconsin as well as theCalpine Mankato power station in Minnesota are among these facilities.

[edit] Other sources of energy

Other power stations use the energy fromwave ortidal motion,wind,sunlight or theenergy of falling water, hydroelectricity. These types of energy sources are called

renewable energy.

A hydroelectric dam and plant on the Muskegon river in Michigan,United States.

[edit] Hydroelectricity

Main article: Hydroelectricity
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Dams built to produce hydroelectricity impound a reservoirof water and release it

through one or more water turbines, connected togenerators, and generate electricity,

from the energy provided by difference in water level upstream and downstream.

[edit] Pumped storage

Apumped-storage hydroelectric power plant is a net consumer of energy but can be used

to smooth peaks and troughs in overall electricity demand. Pumped storage plants

typically use "spare" electricity during off peak periods to pump water from a lowerreservoir or dam to an upper reservoir. Because the electricity is consumed "off peak" it

is typically cheaper than power at peak times. This is because the "base load" power

stations, which are typically coal fired, cannot be switched on and off quickly so remain

in service even when demand is low. During hours of peak demand, when the electricityprice is high, the water pumped to the high reservoir is allowed to flow back to the lower

reservoir through a water turbine connected to an electricity generator. Unlike coal power

stations, which can take more than 12 hours to start up from cold, the hydroelectric plant

can be brought into service in a few minutes, ideal to meet a peak load demand. Twosubstantial pumped storage schemes are in South Africa, one to the East of Cape Town

(Palmiet) and one in the Drakensberg, Natal

[edit] Solar

Main article: Solar power

Solar energy can be turned into electricity either directly insolar cells, or in aconcentrating solar powerplant by focusing the light to run a heat engine.

Nellis Solar Power Plant in the United States.

A solar photovoltaic power plant converts sunlight into direct current electricity using thephotoelectric effect. Inverters change the direct current into alternating current for

connection to the electrical grid. This type of plant does not use rotating machines for

energy conversion.

Solar thermal power plants are another type of solar power plant. They use eitherparabolic troughs orheliostats to direct sunlight onto a pipe containing a heat transfer

fluid, such as oil. The heated oil is then used to boil water into steam, which turns a
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turbine that drives an electrical generator. The central tower type of solar thermal power

plant uses hundreds or thousands of mirrors, depending on size, to direct sunlight onto a

receiver on top of a tower. Again, the heat is used to produce steam to turn turbines thatdrive electrical generators.

[edit] Wind

Main article: Wind power

Wind turbine in front of a thermal power station inAmsterdam, theNetherlands.

Wind turbinescan be used to generate electricity in areas with strong, steady winds,

sometimes offshore. Many different designs have been used in the past, but almost allmodern turbines being produced today use a three-bladed, upwind design. Grid-

connected wind turbines now being built are much larger than the units installed duringthe 1970s, and so produce power more cheaply and reliably than earlier models. Withlarger turbines (on the order of one megawatt), the blades move more slowly than older,

smaller, units, which makes them less visually distracting and safer for airborne animals.

[edit] Typical power output

The power generated by a power station is measured in multiples of the watt, typicallymegawatts(106 watts) orgigawatts(109 watts). Power stations vary greatly in capacity

depending on the type of power plant and on historical, geographical and economic

factors. The following examples offer a sense of the scale.

Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in the USA. As of 2011,the Roscoe Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in the world, producing 781.5

MW of power, followed by the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center(735.5 MW). As of

November 2010, the Thanet Offshore Wind Project in United Kingdomis the largestoffshore wind farm in the world at 300 MW, followed by Horns Rev II (209 MW) in

Denmark.
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As of 2011, the largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the world are rated up to 97

megawatts. [12] Larger power stations are under construction, some proposed will have a

capacity of 150 MW or more.[13]A planned installation in China will produce 2000megawatts at peak.[14]

Solar thermal power stations in the U.S. have the following output:

The country's largest solar facility at Kramer Junction has an output of 354 MW

The planned Blythe Solar Power Project will produce an estimated 968 MW

Large coal-fired, nuclear, and hydroelectric power stations can generate hundreds ofMegawatts to multiple Gigawatts. Some examples:

The Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in the USA has a rated

capacity of 802 megawatts.

The coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in the UK has a rated capacity of 2

gigawatts.The Aswan Damhydro-electric plant in Egypt has a capacity of 2.1 gigawatts.

The Three Gorges Dam hydro-electric plant in China will have a capacity of 22.5gigawatts when complete; 18.2 gigawatts capacity is operating as of 2010.

Gas turbine power plants can generate tens to hundreds of megawatts. Some examples:

The Indian Queenssimple-cycle peaking power station in Cornwall UK, with a

single gas turbine is rated 140 megawatts.The Medway Power Station, a combined-cycle power station in Kent, UK with

two gas turbines and one steam turbine, is rated 700 megawatts.[15]

The rated capacity of a power station is nearly the maximum electrical power that that

power station can produce. Some power plants are run at almost exactly their ratedcapacity all the time, as a non-load-followingbase load power plant, except at times of

scheduled or unscheduled maintenance.

However, many power plants usually produce much less power than their rated capacity.

In some cases a power plant produces much less power than its rated capacity because it

uses an intermittent energy source. Operators try to pullmaximum available powerfromsuch power plants, because theirmarginal cost is practically zero, but the available power

varies widelyin particular, it may be zero during heavy storms at night.

In some cases operators deliberately produce less power for economic reasons. The cost

of fuel to run a load following power plant may be relatively high, and the cost of fuel torun apeaking power plantis even higherthey have relatively high marginal costs.

Operators keep them turned off ("operational reserve") or running at minimum fuel

consumption[citation needed] ("spinning reserve") most of the time. Operators feed more fuelinto load following power plants only when the demand rises above what lower-cost
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plants (i.e., intermittent and base load plants) can produce, and then feed more fuel into

peaking power plants only when the demand rises faster than the load following power

plants can follow.

[edit] Operations

The power station operator has several duties in the electricity-generating facility.

Operators are responsible for the safety of the work crews that frequently do repairs on

the mechanical and electrical equipment. They maintain the equipment with periodicinspections and log temperatures, pressures and other important information at regular

intervals. Operators are responsible for starting and stopping the generatorsdepending on

need. They are able to synchronize and adjust the voltage output of the added generationwith the running electrical system without upsetting the system. They must know the

electrical and mechanical systems in order to troubleshoot problems in the facility and

add to the reliability of the facility. Operators must be able to respond to an emergencyand know the procedures in place to deal with it.

[edit] See also

Energy portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:Power plants

Battery-to-grid mini-power plants

Combined heat and power

Cooling tower system District heating

Electricity generation

Environmental concerns with electricity generation

Flue gas stacks

Fossil fuel power station

Geothermal power

Relative cost of electricity generated by different sources

Plant efficiency

Virtual power plant

[edit] References1. ^ British Electricity International (1991). Modern Power Station Practice:incorporating modern power system practice (3rd Edition (12 volume set) ed.).Pergamon. ISBN0-08-040510-X.

2. ^ Babcock & Wilcox Co. (2005). Steam: Its Generation and Use (41st

edition ed.). ISBN0-9634570-0-4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_generatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_generatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubleshoothttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Energyhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Power_plantshttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Power_plantshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery-to-gridhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_heat_and_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heatinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_concerns_with_electricity_generationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flue_gas_stackshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_cost_of_electricity_generated_by_different_sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_efficiencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_power_planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_plant#cite_ref-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-08-040510-Xhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_plant#cite_ref-Babcock_1-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-9634570-0-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_energy.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_generatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubleshoothttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Energyhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Power_plantshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery-to-gridhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_heat_and_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heatinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_concerns_with_electricity_generationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flue_gas_stackshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_cost_of_electricity_generated_by_different_sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_efficiencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_power_planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_station&action=edit&section=15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_plant#cite_ref-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-08-040510-Xhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_plant#cite_ref-Babcock_1-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-9634570-0-4


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3. ^ Thomas C. Elliott, Kao Chen, Robert Swanekamp (coauthors) (1997).Standard Handbook of Powerplant Engineering(2nd edition ed.). McGraw-Hill

Professional.ISBN0-07-019435-1.4. ^ David Gugerli (1996),Redestrme: Zur Elektrifizierung der Schweiz

1880-1914, Chronos Verlag

5. ^ Jack Harris (14 January 1982), "The electricity of Holborn",NewScientist

6. ^Nuclear Power Plants Information, by International Atomic Energy

Agency7. ^ Wiser, Wendell H. (2000).Energy resources: occurrence, production,

conversion, use. Birkhuser. p. 190. ISBN9780387987446.

8. ^ SWEB's Pocket Power Stations

9. ^ J.C. Hensley (Editor) (2006). Cooling Tower Fundamentals (2nd Ed.ed.). SPX Cooling Technologies.

10. ^ Beychok, Milton R. (1967).Aqueous Wastes from Petroleum andPetrochemical Plants (4th Edition ed.). John Wiley and Sons. LCCN 67019834.

(Includes cooling tower material balance for evaporation emissions andblowdown effluents. Available in many university libraries)

11. ^ AAAS Annual Meeting 17 - 21 Feb 2011, Washington DC. Sustainableor Not? Impacts and Uncertainties of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies on

Water. Dr Evangelos Tzimas , European Commission, JRC Institute for Energy,

Petten, Netherlands

12. ^ Denis Lenardic. Large-scale photovoltaic power plants ranking 1 - 50PVresources.com, 2010.

13. ^ Mark Z. Jacobson(2009). Review of Solutions to Global Warming, Air

Pollution, and Energy Security p. 4.14. ^ http://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/will-china-and-us-be-

partners-or-rivals-new-energy-economy

15. ^ CCGT Plants in South England, by Power Plants Around the World

[edit] External links
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