How Is Electricity Made In A Power Station

The magical science of power plants.

How is electricity made in a power station. Electricity is found in nature. A power station also referred to as 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 a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into three phase electric power. Find out how the electricity is generated within the power stations by watching the following animation.

Most of the heat energy escapes up the tall cooling towers. There are power stations all over the country and each needs to be fed fuel to make it run. Making sure all this happens safely and as efficiently as possible falls to the uk s nine regional electricity networks and national grid. Electricity generation is from electric power plants that use a turbine or similar machine to drive electricity generators.

The electrical charge goes through high voltage transmission lines that stretch across the country. Electricity is made at a generating station by huge generators. The transmission system is made up of almost 4 500 miles of overhead electricity lines nearly 90 000 pylons and 342 substations all bringing electricity from power stations into our homes. A single large power plant can generate enough electricity about 2 gigawatts 2 000 megawatts or 2 000 000 000 watts to supply a couple of hundred thousand homes and that s the same amount of power you could make with about 1000 large wind turbines working flat out.

A changing libraries initiative this site and all content is made available under respective copyrights. Other flows that are used to generate electricity include wind solar geothermal and tidal. The most common fuels are coal natural gas and uranium nuclear power a substantially used primary energy flow for electricity generation is hydroelectricity water. A turbine converts the potential and kinetic energy of a moving fluid liquid or gas to mechanical energy.

The type of primary fuel or primary energy flow that provides a power plant its primary energy varies. Whether power stations use oil coal or nuclear fuel they all produce steam that drives huge turbine wheels. In a turbine generator a moving fluid such as water steam combustion gases or air pushes a series of blades mounted on a shaft which rotates. But the splendid science behind this amazing trick has less to do with the power plant.

The current is sent through transformers to increase the voltage to push the power long distances. Some of the heat energy produced by this coal fired power station is used to make electricity. However electricity created at a power station requires a coil of wire the spin in giant magnets creating electricity.