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96-427: Shanghai Electric is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of products including power generation equipment, power transmission and distribution equipment, transformers , switchgear , circuit breakers , transport equipment, machine tools , elevators , packaging and print machinery , and environmental protection equipment. It is the world's largest manufacturer of steam turbines. Shanghai Electric has

192-484: A gigawatt each. They generate about a third of the world's electricity , but cause many illnesses and the most early deaths per unit of energy produced, mainly from air pollution . World installed capacity doubled from 2000 to 2023 and increased 2% in 2023. A coal-fired power station is a type of fossil fuel power station . The coal is usually pulverized and then burned in a pulverized coal-fired boiler . The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam , which

288-545: A magnet . Central power stations became economically practical with the development of alternating current (AC) power transmission, using power transformers to transmit power at high voltage and with low loss. Commercial electricity production started with the coupling of the dynamo to the hydraulic turbine. The mechanical production of electric power began the Second Industrial Revolution and made possible several inventions using electricity, with

384-478: A power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant , is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power . Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid . Many power stations contain one or more generators , rotating machine that converts mechanical power into three-phase electric power . The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electric current . The energy source harnessed to turn

480-526: A common frequency, were developed. The same generating plant that fed large industrial loads during the day, could feed commuter railway systems during rush hour and then serve lighting load in the evening, thus improving the system load factor and reducing the cost of electrical energy overall. Many exceptions existed, generating stations were dedicated to power or light by the choice of frequency, and rotating frequency changers and rotating converters were particularly common to feed electric railway systems from

576-463: A cooperation agreement with CESC to collaborate on the construction of coal-based power stations in India. Shanghai Electric has several A share listed subsidiaries, including Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry co., Ltd., and has over 50 joint-ventures, including Shanghai Mitsubishi Elevator Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric . Shanghai Electric has a strategy to assist in

672-451: A generator are photovoltaic solar and fuel cells . Almost all commercial electrical power on Earth is generated with a turbine , driven by wind, water, steam or burning gas. The turbine drives a generator, thus transforming its mechanical energy into electrical energy by electromagnetic induction. There are many different methods of developing mechanical energy, including heat engines , hydro, wind and tidal power. Most electric generation

768-645: A generator to rotate. Electrochemistry is the direct transformation of chemical energy into electricity, as in a battery . Electrochemical electricity generation is important in portable and mobile applications. Currently, most electrochemical power comes from batteries. Primary cells , such as the common zinc–carbon batteries , act as power sources directly, but secondary cells (i.e. rechargeable batteries) are used for storage systems rather than primary generation systems. Open electrochemical systems, known as fuel cells , can be used to extract power either from natural fuels or from synthesized fuels. Osmotic power

864-408: A huge amount of power from a single unit. However, nuclear disasters have raised concerns over the safety of nuclear power, and the capital cost of nuclear plants is very high. Hydroelectric power plants are located in areas where the potential energy from falling water can be harnessed for moving turbines and the generation of power. It may not be an economically viable single source of production where

960-507: A hydroelectric power station was designed and built by William, Lord Armstrong at Cragside , England . It used water from lakes on his estate to power Siemens dynamos . The electricity supplied power to lights, heating, produced hot water, ran an elevator as well as labor-saving devices and farm buildings. In January 1882 the world's first public coal-fired power station , the Edison Electric Light Station ,

1056-425: A hydroelectric power station water flows through turbines using hydropower to generate hydroelectricity . Power is captured from the gravitational force of water falling through penstocks to water turbines connected to generators . The amount of power available is a combination of height and water flow. A wide range of Dams may be built to raise the water level, and create a lake for storing water . Hydropower

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1152-542: A large number of consumers. Most power plants used in centralised generation are thermal power plants meaning that they use a fuel to heat steam to produce a pressurised gas which in turn spins a turbine and generates electricity. This is the traditional way of producing energy. This process relies on several forms of technology to produce widespread electricity, these being natural coal, gas and nuclear forms of thermal generation. More recently solar and wind have become large scale. A photovoltaic power station , also known as

1248-484: A long history and one of its subsidiaries was established before 1880. Shanghai Electric has achieved a number of breakthroughs since 1949, including the first 6,000 kW fossil-fueled power generating unit, the first cooling gas turbine generator in the world, the first ten-thousand water pressing machine in China, the first 300 MW nuclear power generating unit in China, the first large ship-use crankshaft in China, and

1344-403: A lower reservoir to an upper reservoir. Because the pumping takes place "off peak", electricity is less valuable than at peak times. This less valuable "spare" electricity comes from uncontrolled wind power and base load power plants such as coal, nuclear and geothermal, which still produce power at night even though demand is very low. During daytime peak demand, when electricity prices are high,

1440-406: A material that enhances the mixing of the upflowing air and the down-flowing water. In areas with restricted water use, a dry cooling tower or directly air-cooled radiators may be necessary, since the cost or environmental consequences of obtaining make-up water for evaporative cooling would be prohibitive. These coolers have lower efficiency and higher energy consumption to drive fans, compared to

1536-569: A pipe containing a heat transfer fluid, such as oil. The heated oil is then used to boil water into steam, which turns a 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. The heat is used to produce steam to turn turbines that drive electrical generators. Wind turbines can be used to generate electricity in areas with strong, steady winds, sometimes offshore . Many different designs have been used in

1632-402: A power plant is to combine two different thermodynamic cycles in a combined cycle plant. Most commonly, exhaust gases from a gas turbine are used to generate steam for a boiler and a steam turbine. The combination of a "top" cycle and a "bottom" cycle produces higher overall efficiency than either cycle can attain alone. In 2018, Inter RAO UES and State Grid Archived 21 December 2021 at

1728-592: A power station is nearly the maximum electrical power that the power station can produce. Some power plants are run at almost exactly their rated capacity all the time, as a non-load-following base 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 pull maximum available power from such power plants, because their marginal cost

1824-536: A prime source of power within isolated villages. Total world generation in 2021 was 28,003 TWh, including coal (36%), gas (23%), hydro (15%), nuclear (10%), wind (6.6%), solar (3.7%), oil and other fossil fuels (3.1%), biomass (2.4%) and geothermal and other renewables (0.33%). China produced a third of the world's electricity in 2021, largely from coal. The United States produces half as much as China but uses far more natural gas and nuclear. Variations between countries generating electrical power affect concerns about

1920-441: A scale of at least 1 MW p . As of 2018, the world's largest operating photovoltaic power stations surpassed 1 gigawatt . At the end of 2019, about 9,000 solar farms were larger than 4 MW AC (utility scale), with a combined capacity of over 220 GW AC . A wind farm or wind park, or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity . Wind farms vary in size from

2016-492: A small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore . Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in China, India, and the United States. For example, the largest wind farm in the world , Gansu Wind Farm in China had a capacity of over 6,000  MW by 2012, with a goal of 20,000 MW by 2020. As of December 2020,

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2112-465: A solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power . They are different from most building-mounted and other decentralized solar power because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. Utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project. This approach differs from concentrated solar power ,

2208-421: A steam turbine. Bioenergy can also be processed through a range of temperatures and pressures in gasification , pyrolysis or torrefaction reactions. Depending on the desired end product, these reactions create more energy-dense products ( syngas , wood pellets , biocoal ) that can then be fed into an accompanying engine to produce electricity at a much lower emission rate when compared with open burning. It

2304-682: A turbine is spun creating energy. This method is being specifically studied by the Norwegian utility Statkraft, which has calculated that up to 25 TWh/yr would be available from this process in Norway. Statkraft has built the world's first prototype osmotic power plant on the Oslo fjord which was opened on 24 November 2009. In January 2014, however, Statkraft announced not to continue this pilot. Biomass energy can be produced from combustion of waste green material to heat water into steam and drive

2400-445: A typical wet, evaporative cooling tower. Power plants can use an air-cooled condenser, traditionally in areas with a limited or expensive water supply. Air-cooled condensers serve the same purpose as a cooling tower (heat dissipation) without using water. They consume additional auxiliary power and thus may have a higher carbon footprint compared to a traditional cooling tower. Electric companies often prefer to use cooling water from

2496-462: Is a possibility at places where salt and fresh water merge. The photovoltaic effect is the transformation of light into electrical energy, as in solar cells . Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly to DC electricity. Power inverters can then convert that to AC electricity if needed. Although sunlight is free and abundant, solar power electricity is still usually more expensive to produce than large-scale mechanically generated power due to

2592-414: Is a wind turbine manufacturing company. Electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy . For utilities in the electric power industry , it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission , distribution , etc.) to end users or its storage , using for example, the pumped-storage method. Consumable electricity

2688-487: Is always heat lost to the environment. If this loss is employed as useful heat, for industrial processes or district heating , the power plant is referred to as a cogeneration 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 East uses by-product heat for

2784-468: Is based upon the local power requirement and the fluctuations in demand. All power grids have varying loads on them. The daily minimum is the base load , often supplied by plants which run continuously. Nuclear, coal, oil, gas and some hydro plants can supply base load. If well construction costs for natural gas are below $ 10 per MWh, generating electricity from natural gas is cheaper than generating power by burning coal. Nuclear power plants can produce

2880-975: Is driven by heat engines. The combustion of fossil fuels supplies most of the energy to these engines, with a significant fraction from nuclear fission and some from renewable sources . The modern steam turbine , invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884, currently generates about 80% of the electric power in the world using a variety of heat sources. Turbine types include: Turbines can also use other heat-transfer liquids than steam. Supercritical carbon dioxide based cycles can provide higher conversion efficiency due to faster heat exchange, higher energy density and simpler power cycle infrastructure. Supercritical carbon dioxide blends , that are currently in development, can further increase efficiency by optimizing its critical pressure and temperature points. Although turbines are most common in commercial power generation, smaller generators can be powered by gasoline or diesel engines . These may used for backup generation or as

2976-511: Is fundamentally the opposite of distributed generation . Distributed generation is the small-scale generation of electricity to smaller groups of consumers. This can also include independently producing electricity by either solar or wind power. In recent years distributed generation as has seen a spark in popularity due to its propensity to use renewable energy generation methods such as rooftop solar . Centralised energy sources are large power plants that produce huge amounts of electricity to

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3072-735: Is not freely available in nature, so it must be "produced", transforming other forms of energy to electricity. Production is carried out in power stations , also called "power plants". Electricity is most often generated at a power plant by electromechanical generators , primarily driven by heat engines fueled by combustion or nuclear fission , but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind. Other energy sources include solar photovoltaics and geothermal power . There are exotic and speculative methods to recover energy, such as proposed fusion reactor designs which aim to directly extract energy from intense magnetic fields generated by fast-moving charged particles generated by

3168-583: Is possible to store energy and produce electrical power at a later time as in pumped-storage hydroelectricity , thermal energy storage , flywheel energy storage , battery storage power station and so on. The world's largest form of storage for excess electricity, pumped-storage is a reversible hydroelectric plant. They are a net consumer of energy but provide storage for any source of electricity, effectively smoothing peaks and troughs in electricity supply and demand. Pumped storage plants typically use "spare" electricity during off peak periods to pump water from

3264-518: Is practically zero, but the available power varies widely—in 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 to run a peaking power plant is even higher—they have relatively high marginal costs. Operators keep power plants turned off ("operational reserve") or running at minimum fuel consumption ("spinning reserve") most of

3360-449: Is predictable, on a short-term (daily or hourly) base their energy must be used as available since generation cannot be deferred. Contractual arrangements ("take or pay") with independent power producers or system interconnections to other networks may be effectively non-dispatchable. 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

3456-465: Is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. Solar energy can be turned into electricity either directly in solar cells , or in a concentrating solar power plant by focusing

3552-577: Is provided by batteries. Other forms of electricity generation used in niche applications include the triboelectric effect , the piezoelectric effect , the thermoelectric effect , and betavoltaics . Electric generators transform kinetic energy into electricity. This is the most used form for generating electricity based on Faraday's law . It can be seen experimentally by rotating a magnet within closed loops of conducting material, e.g. copper wire. Almost all commercial electrical generation uses electromagnetic induction, in which mechanical energy forces

3648-472: Is rated in megawatt-peak (MW p ), which refers to the solar array's theoretical maximum DC power output. In other countries, the manufacturer states the surface and the efficiency. However, Canada, Japan, Spain, and the United States often specify using the converted lower nominal power output in MW AC , a measure more directly comparable to other forms of power generation. Most solar parks are developed at

3744-429: Is then used to spin turbines that turn generators . Thus chemical energy stored in coal is converted successively into thermal energy , mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy . Natural gas is ignited to create pressurised gas which is used to spin turbines to generate electricity. Natural gas plants use a gas turbine where natural gas is added along with oxygen which in turn combusts and expands through

3840-940: The City Temple and the Old Bailey . Another important customer was the Telegraph Office of the General Post Office , but this could not be reached through the culverts. Johnson arranged for the supply cable to be run overhead, via Holborn Tavern and Newgate . In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Station was established by Edison to provide electric lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area. The station ran until destroyed by fire in 1890. The station used reciprocating steam engines to turn direct-current generators. Because of

3936-760: The Roscoe Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in the world, producing 8000  MW of power, followed by the Zhang Jiakou (3000 MW). As of January 2022, the Hornsea Wind Farm in United Kingdom is the largest offshore wind farm in the world at 1218 MW, followed by Walney Wind Farm in United Kingdom at 1026 MW. In 2021, the worldwide installed capacity of power plants increased by 347 GW. Solar and wind power plant capacities rose by 80% in one year.  As of 2022 ,

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4032-676: The Three Mile Island accident , Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima nuclear disaster illustrate this problem. The table lists 45 countries with their total electricity capacities. The data is from 2022. According to the Energy Information Administration , the total global electricity capacity in 2022 was nearly 8.9 terawatt (TW), more than four times the total global electricity capacity in 1981. The global average per-capita electricity capacity

4128-576: The Wayback Machine planned to build an 8-GW thermal power plant, which's the largest coal-fired power plant construction project in Russia . A prime mover is a machine that converts energy of various forms into energy of motion. Power plants that can be dispatched (scheduled) to provide energy to a system include: Non-dispatchable plants include such sources as wind and solar energy; while their long-term contribution to system energy supply

4224-617: The desalination of water. The efficiency of a thermal power cycle is limited by the maximum working fluid temperature produced. The efficiency 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 a system is on constantly (base load) it will be more efficient than one that is used intermittently (peak load). Steam turbines generally operate at higher efficiency when operated at full capacity. Besides use of reject heat for process or district heating, one way to improve overall efficiency of

4320-436: The largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the world are led by Bhadla Solar Park in India, rated at 2245 MW. Solar thermal power stations in the U.S. have the following output: Large coal-fired, nuclear, and hydroelectric power stations can generate hundreds of megawatts to multiple gigawatts. Some examples: Gas turbine power plants can generate tens to hundreds of megawatts. Some examples: The rated capacity of

4416-429: The steam turbine had a massive impact on the efficiency of electrical generation but also the economics of generation as well. This conversion of heat energy into mechanical work was similar to that of steam engines , however at a significantly larger scale and far more productively. The improvements of these large-scale generation plants were critical to the process of centralised generation as they would become vital to

4512-420: 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 reciprocating steam engine ever built for a proposed new central station, but scrapped

4608-499: The 1218 MW Hornsea Wind Farm in the UK is the largest offshore wind farm in the world . Individual wind turbine designs continue to increase in power , resulting in fewer turbines being needed for the same total output. A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity . Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating

4704-481: The 1880s the popularity of electricity grew massively with the introduction of the Incandescent light bulb . Although there are 22 recognised inventors of the light bulb prior to Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison , Edison and Swan's invention became by far the most successful and popular of all. During the early years of the 19th century, massive jumps in electrical sciences were made. And by the later 19th century

4800-546: The DC distribution, the service area was small, limited by voltage drop in the feeders. In 1886 George Westinghouse began building an alternating current system that used a transformer to step up voltage for long-distance transmission and then stepped it back down for indoor lighting, a more efficient and less expensive system which is similar to modern systems. The war of the currents eventually resolved in favor of AC distribution and utilization, although some DC systems persisted to

4896-520: The Drakensberg, Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme . The power generated by a power station is measured in multiples of the watt , typically megawatts (10 watts) or gigawatts (10 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 China. As of 2022,

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4992-580: The Northern America in the 1920s in large cities and urban areas. It was not until the 1930s that rural areas saw the large-scale establishment of electrification. 2021 world electricity generation by source. Total generation was 28 petawatt-hours . Several fundamental methods exist to convert other forms of energy into electrical energy. Utility-scale generation is achieved by rotating electric generators or by photovoltaic systems. A small proportion of electric power distributed by utilities

5088-597: The United States, fossil fuel combustion for electric power generation is responsible for 65% of all emissions of sulfur dioxide , the main component of acid rain. Electricity generation is the fourth highest combined source of NO x , carbon monoxide , and particulate matter in the US. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), low-carbon electricity generation needs to account for 85% of global electrical output by 2040 in order to ward off

5184-508: The ability to store the flow of water is limited and the load varies too much during the annual production cycle. Electric generators were known in simple forms from the discovery of electromagnetic induction in the 1830s. In general, some form of prime mover such as an engine or the turbines described above, drives a rotating magnetic field past stationary coils of wire thereby turning mechanical energy into electricity. The only commercial scale forms of electricity production that do not employ

5280-411: The advancement of electrical technology and engineering led to electricity being part of everyday life. With the introduction of many electrical inventions and their implementation into everyday life, the demand for electricity within homes grew dramatically. With this increase in demand, the potential for profit was seen by many entrepreneurs who began investing into electrical systems to eventually create

5376-505: The amount of energy converted into useful electricity . Gas-fired power plants can achieve as much as 65% conversion efficiency, while coal and oil plants achieve around 30–49%. The waste heat produces a temperature rise in the atmosphere, which is small compared to that produced by greenhouse-gas emissions from the same power plant. Natural draft wet cooling towers at many nuclear power plants and large fossil-fuel-fired power plants use large hyperboloid chimney -like structures (as seen in

5472-487: The atmosphere. Nuclear power plants can also create district heating and desalination projects, limiting carbon emissions and the need for expanded electrical output. A fundamental issue regarding centralised generation and the current electrical generation methods in use today is the significant negative environmental effects that many of the generation processes have. Processes such as coal and gas not only release carbon dioxide as they combust, but their extraction from

5568-496: The cooling machinery. These screens are only partially effective and as a result billions of fish and other aquatic organisms are killed by power plants each year. For example, the cooling system at the Indian Point Energy Center in New York kills over a billion fish eggs and larvae annually. A further environmental impact is that aquatic organisms which adapt to the warmer discharge water may be injured if

5664-616: The cost of the panels. Low-efficiency silicon solar cells have been decreasing in cost and multijunction cells with close to 30% conversion efficiency are now commercially available. Over 40% efficiency has been demonstrated in experimental systems. Until recently, photovoltaics were most commonly used in remote sites where there is no access to a commercial power grid, or as a supplemental electricity source for individual homes and businesses. Recent advances in manufacturing efficiency and photovoltaic technology, combined with subsidies driven by environmental concerns, have dramatically accelerated

5760-572: The deployment of solar panels. Installed capacity is growing by around 20% per year led by increases in Germany, Japan, United States, China, and India. The selection of electricity production modes and their economic viability varies in accordance with demand and region. The economics vary considerably around the world, resulting in widespread residential selling prices. Hydroelectric plants , nuclear power plants , thermal power plants and renewable sources have their own pros and cons, and selection

5856-533: The electricity through high voltage transmission lines to a substation, where it is then distributed to consumers; the basic concept being that multi-megawatt or gigawatt scale large stations create electricity for a large number of people. The vast majority of electricity used is created from centralised generation. Most centralised power generation comes from large power plants run by fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, though nuclear or large hydroelectricity plants are also commonly used. Centralised generation

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5952-547: The end of the 20th century. DC systems with a service radius of a mile (kilometer) or so were necessarily smaller, less efficient of fuel consumption, and more labor-intensive to operate than much larger central AC generating stations. AC systems used a wide range of frequencies depending on the type of load; lighting load using higher frequencies, and traction systems and heavy motor load systems preferring lower frequencies. The economics of central station generation improved greatly when unified light and power systems, operating at

6048-411: The energy carried by ocean waves , tides , salinity , and ocean temperature differences . The movement of water in the world's oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy , or energy in motion. This energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport and industries. The term marine energy encompasses both wave power —power from surface waves, and tidal power —obtained from

6144-524: The entire power system that we now use today. Throughout the middle of the 20th century many utilities began merging their distribution networks due to economic and efficiency benefits. Along with the invention of long-distance power transmission , the coordination of power plants began to form. This system was then secured by regional system operators to ensure stability and reliability. The electrification of homes began in Northern Europe and in

6240-404: The environment. In France only 10% of electricity is generated from fossil fuels , the US is higher at 70% and China is at 80%. The cleanliness of electricity depends on its source. Methane leaks (from natural gas to fuel gas-fired power plants) and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-based electricity generation account for a significant portion of world greenhouse gas emissions . In

6336-589: The first 1,000 MW ultra super-critical fossil-fueled power generating units in China. On April 28, 2005, Shanghai Electric listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange . On December 5, 2008, the group was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange . In October 2010, Shanghai Electric and Reliance Power of India signed a US$ 8.3 billion agreement for Shanghai Electric to supply 36 coal-fired thermal power generation units to Reliance over

6432-428: The first electricity public utilities. This process in history is often described as electrification. The earliest distribution of electricity came from companies operating independently of one another. A consumer would purchase electricity from a producer, and the producer would distribute it through their own power grid. As technology improved so did the productivity and efficiency of its generation. Inventions such as

6528-495: The fusion reaction (see magnetohydrodynamics ). Phasing out coal-fired power stations and eventually gas-fired power stations , or, if practical, capturing their greenhouse gas emissions , is an important part of the energy transformation required to limit climate change . Vastly more solar power and wind power is forecast to be required, with electricity demand increasing strongly with further electrification of transport , homes and industry. However, in 2023, it

6624-422: 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 of multiple generating stations to improve reliability and cost. High-voltage AC transmission allowed hydroelectric power to be conveniently moved from distant waterfalls to city markets. The advent of

6720-434: The generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal , oil , and natural gas to generate electricity. Low-carbon power sources include nuclear power , and use of renewables such as solar , wind , geothermal , and hydroelectric . In early 1871 Belgian inventor Zénobe Gramme invented a generator powerful enough to produce power on a commercial scale for industry. In 1878,

6816-420: The generators. Although there are several types of nuclear reactors, all fundamentally use this process. Normal emissions due to nuclear power plants are primarily waste heat and radioactive spent fuel. In a reactor accident, significant amounts of radioisotopes can be released to the environment, posing a long term hazard to life. This hazard has been a continuing concern of environmentalists. Accidents such as

6912-494: The ground also impacts the environment. Open pit coal mines use large areas of land to extract coal and limit the potential for productive land use after the excavation. Natural gas extraction releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere when extracted from the ground greatly increase global greenhouse gases. Although nuclear power plants do not release carbon dioxide through electricity generation, there are risks associated with nuclear waste and safety concerns associated with

7008-458: The heat input is from the process of nuclear fission . Currently, nuclear power produces 11% of all electricity in the world. Most nuclear reactors use uranium as a source of fuel. In a process called nuclear fission , energy, in the form of heat, is released when nuclear atoms are split. Electricity is created through the use of a nuclear reactor where heat produced by nuclear fission is used to produce steam which in turn spins turbines and powers

7104-588: The image at the right) that release the waste heat to the ambient atmosphere by the evaporation of water. However, the mechanical induced-draft 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 through down coming water and are not hyperboloid chimney-like structures. The induced or forced-draft cooling towers are typically rectangular, box-like structures filled with

7200-762: The improvement of China's overall competitiveness through the achievement of three major objectives: "core business concentration, self-mastered innovation and global resource consolidation". The company also intends to develop its "Shanghai Electric" brand into a universal brand. Shanghai Electric is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of products including power generation equipment, wind turbines , power transmission and distribution equipment, transformers , switchgear , circuit breakers , transport equipment, machine tools , elevators , packaging and print machinery and environmental protection equipment. Shanghai Electric offers turnkey systems and service for power plants . Shanghai Electric Wind Energy Co., Ltd.

7296-406: The kinetic energy of large bodies of moving water. Offshore wind power is not a form of marine energy, as wind power is derived from the wind , even if the wind turbines are placed over water. The oceans have a tremendous amount of energy and are close to many if not most concentrated populations. Ocean energy has the potential of providing a substantial amount of new renewable energy around

7392-425: The light to run a heat engine. A solar photovoltaic power plant converts sunlight into direct current electricity using the photoelectric 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 use either parabolic troughs or heliostats to direct sunlight onto

7488-469: The major contributors being Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla . Previously the only way to produce electricity was by chemical reactions or using battery cells, and the only practical use of electricity was for the telegraph . Electricity generation at central power stations started in 1882, when a steam engine driving a dynamo at Pearl Street Station produced a DC current that powered public lighting on Pearl Street , New York . The new technology

7584-479: The ocean or a lake, river, or cooling pond instead of a cooling tower. This single pass or once-through cooling system 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 thermal pollution as the water is discharged. Power plants using natural bodies of water for cooling are designed with mechanisms such as fish screens , to limit intake of organisms into

7680-425: The other major large-scale solar generation technology, which uses heat to drive a variety of conventional generator systems. Both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but to date, for a variety of reasons, photovoltaic technology has seen much wider use. As of 2019 , about 97% of utility-scale solar power capacity was PV. In some countries, the nameplate capacity of photovoltaic power stations

7776-557: The past, but almost all modern turbines being produced today use a three-bladed, upwind design. Grid-connected wind turbines now being built are much larger than the units installed during the 1970s. They thus produce power more cheaply and reliably than earlier models. With larger 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 birds. Marine energy or marine power (also sometimes referred to as ocean energy or ocean power ) refers to

7872-433: The plans when turbines became available in the necessary size. Building power systems out of central stations required combinations of engineering skill and financial acumen in equal measure. Pioneers of central station generation include George Westinghouse and Samuel Insull in the United States, Ferranti and Charles Hesterman Merz in UK, and many others . 2021 world electricity generation by source. Total generation

7968-674: The plant shuts down in cold weather . Water consumption by power stations is a developing issue. 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 the Calpine Mankato power station in Minnesota are among these facilities. Power stations can generate electrical energy from renewable energy sources. In

8064-406: The power themselves, in which case the generation output is classified into gross generation , and net generation . Gross generation or gross electric output is the total amount of electricity generated by a power plant over a specific period of time. It is measured at the generating terminal and is measured in kilowatt-hours (kW·h), megawatt-hours (MW·h), gigawatt-hours (GW·h) or for

8160-512: The storage is used for peaking power , where water in the upper reservoir is allowed to flow back to a lower reservoir through a turbine and generator. Unlike coal power stations, which can take more than 12 hours to start up from cold, a hydroelectric generator can be brought into service in a few minutes, ideal to meet a peak load demand. Two substantial pumped storage schemes are in South Africa, Palmiet Pumped Storage Scheme and another in

8256-420: The subsequent three years. In April 2011 Shanghai Electric and Alstom agreed to combine their power plant boiler divisions into a new joint-venture company called Alstom-Shanghai Electric Boilers Co. In June 2011, Shanghai Electric announced plans to invest RMB 1 billion in a joint venture with Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company, with each to hold a 50% stake. In September 2011, Shanghai Electric signed

8352-448: The time. Operators feed more fuel into load following power plants only when the demand rises above what lower-cost 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. Not all of the generated power of a plant is necessarily delivered into a distribution system. Power plants typically also use some of

8448-444: The turbine to force a generator to spin. Natural gas power plants are more efficient than coal power generation, they however contribute to climate change, but not as highly as coal generation. Not only do they produce carbon dioxide from the ignition of natural gas, the extraction of gas when mined releases a significant amount of methane into the atmosphere. Nuclear power plants create electricity through steam turbines where

8544-413: The use of nuclear sources. Per unit of electricity generated coal and gas-fired power life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions are almost always at least ten times that of other generation methods. Centralised generation is electricity generation by large-scale centralised facilities, sent through transmission lines to consumers. These facilities are usually located far away from consumers and distribute

8640-415: The world. Salinity gradient energy is called pressure-retarded osmosis. In this method, seawater is pumped into a pressure chamber that is at a pressure lower than the difference between the pressures of saline water and fresh water. Freshwater is also pumped into the pressure chamber through a membrane, which increases both the volume and pressure of the chamber. As the pressure differences are compensated,

8736-698: The worst effects of climate change. Like other organizations including the Energy Impact Center (EIC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the IEA has called for the expansion of nuclear and renewable energy to meet that objective. Some, like EIC founder Bret Kugelmass, believe that nuclear power is the primary method for decarbonizing electricity generation because it can also power direct air capture that removes existing carbon emissions from

8832-422: Was 28 petawatt-hours . In thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that transforms thermal energy , often from combustion of a fuel , into rotational energy. Most thermal power stations produce steam, so they are sometimes called steam power stations. Not all thermal energy can be transformed into mechanical power, according to the second law of thermodynamics ; therefore, there

8928-528: Was about 1,120 watts in 2022, nearly two and a half times the global average per-capita electricity capacity in 1981. Iceland has the highest installed capacity per capita in the world, at about 8,990 watts. All developed countries have an average per-capita electricity capacity above the global average per-capita electricity capacity, with the United Kingdom having the lowest average per-capita electricity capacity of all other developed countries. Power station A power station , also referred to as

9024-470: Was built in London, a project of Thomas Edison organized by Edward Johnson . A Babcock & Wilcox boiler powered a 93 kW (125 horsepower) steam engine that drove a 27-tonne (27-long-ton) generator. This supplied electricity to premises 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

9120-497: Was quickly adopted by many cities around the world, which adapted their gas-fueled street lights to electric power. Soon after electric lights would be used in public buildings, in businesses, and to power public transport, such as trams and trains. The first power plants used water power or coal. Today a variety of energy sources are used, such as coal , nuclear , natural gas , hydroelectric , wind , and oil , as well as solar energy , tidal power , and geothermal sources. In

9216-409: Was reported that the global electricity supply was approaching peak CO2 emissions thanks to the growth of solar and wind power. The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered in the 1820s and early 1830s by British scientist Michael Faraday . His method, still used today, is for electricity to be generated by the movement of a loop of wire, or Faraday disc , between the poles of

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