Electricity is the lifeline of today’s world. Anything from watches to vehicles is now running on electricity.
To put our reliance on energy into numbers, we see that in 2008, US energy usage was 2.989 Tera Watt-hours (TWh). Fast forward to 2019, we can understand that it has risen to 3,971 TWh. TWh is equivalent to 1,000,000,000 kwh.
It’s simply astounding to see just how much we are now relying on electricity in our everyday lives. But where’s all this electricity coming from? The response to that is power plants. They’re producing energy for the planet to use.
There are various types of power plants in the world that work together to fulfill the rising need for electric power.
Hydroelectric power plants
Hydroelectric power plants are among the most powerful and environmentally friendly power plants in the world. Electricity is generated by water in a hydroelectric power plant.
The available energy of water is transformed into electrical energy in detail. When the water is forced to fall from a point to a turbine, it rotates the turbine that is attached to the engine. The generator begins producing electricity as the turbine spins. This energy is then redirected to all the substations to disperse the power.
The major power station in the world is a hydro-electric power station called The Three Gorges Dam. The dam generates an astonishing 22,500MW of electricity. This feat is accomplished by using 34 power generators. The dam is so vast that after its completion, the dam slowed down the rotation of the earth. Most of these plants are built by energy companies that take on projects like the amrun power project.
One of the benefits of the Hydroelectric Power Plant is there is no waste produced by the generation of electricity.
Coal-run power plants
The first 2 power plants we mentioned have a smaller carbon footprint. Coal power plants are just the same. They have a high carbon footprint, and coal-fired power plants account for almost 40% of the world’s energy needs.
Gas or coal-fired power stations burn coal to convert water to steam. This steam is then used to transform turbines that generate electricity with the aid of a generator. A 1000MW coal-fired power plant burns 9000 tons of coal every day. This method releases extremely high levels of contaminants into the environment.
Nuclear power plants
Nuclear power plants are also at the forefront of the list of power stations that can generate large quantities of electricity. The nuclear power plant operates by turning nuclear energy into electricity.
The heat from the fission plant is used to transform water to steam. Pressurized water is then used to rotate the turbines attached to the generator. Unlike coal or natural gas – fired power plants, there is no need for a nuclear power plant to burn in order to produce heat. The entire process is driven by nuclear fission.
Low-enriched uranium pellets are transported to the nuclear power plant. Then the atom of uranium is separated, producing a nuclear fission. This process releases a large amount of electricity.
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