Power plant Definition and 119 Threads

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. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electric current.
The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Clean energy sources include nuclear power, and an increasing use of renewables such as solar, wind, wave, geothermal, and hydroelectric.

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  1. phinds

    What are these possible heat dissipation tubes?

    In the Jan 6 Economist, there is an article about energy ("Britain needs an unprecedented expansion of the electricity grid") headed by this image. I assume that it is part of a power plant but I can't figure out what all those curved tubes are. First, I thought, maybe heat dissipation but they...
  2. engali

    Calculating Energy Requirements for HRSG in Hydrogen Power Plants

    Hi guys, I’m a final-year student studying mechanical engineering. I’m doing my dissertation on hydrogen power plants. I had a question…. How would I work out the energy needed to run a HRSG in my cycle. I understand this depends on various parameters and needs testing and simulations but...
  3. E

    This is a 3D model I made of a nuclear power plant control room

    I spent the past several weeks making this 3D model of a nuclear power plant control room.
  4. Kamuna

    Engineering Understanding Rankine Cycle Pressures: Should P2 Equal P3?

    Is this the right path in solving this problem? Am i finding the correct enthalpies? I am also having difficulty understanding so what I've understood is that in a rankine cycle P2=P3 but here P2 is given and P3 has a given variable which is T=25 C too so should I neglect P2=P3? Heres my...
  5. Greg Bernhardt

    Ukraine nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia on fire

    Let's keep this non-political, similar to the Fukushima thread. Thanks! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ukraine-nuclear-power-plant-001225198.html
  6. E

    Here is a 3D model I made of a large industrial steam turbine

    This is a 3D model I made of a large industrial steam turbine. It was modeled after one of the turbines at the Port Richmond generating station in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. I plan on modeling the entire turbine hall of that power plant, but that will take several months, at least. The program...
  7. K

    Questions on operating a nuclear power plant on the Moon or Mars

    Heat cannot be removed by liquid-to-gas heat exchangers since there is no substantial atmospheres on the Moon or on Mars. It cannot be dissipated by venting steam since there is a critical water shortage. It cannot be dissipated by rocks or soil since both are essentially thermal insulators. It...
  8. CherryB

    How many kWh will a 23MW generator make in 1 year

    If a power plant generates at 23MW, how many kWh will be generated in 1 year? And how many miles could you drive Tesla cars, at highway speeds (70mph), in one year? Thanks
  9. stipan_relix

    Engineering Voltages, currents and power between a power plant and a transformer

    This is the first part of the problem, which I solved. Now to the second part which I can't manage to find the equations I need to use. Problem: This plant is connected to a 20/0.4 kV transformer of 250 kVA power, through an XP00-A cable (4x150 mm2, IN=300 A, Z1=0.26 Ω/km). a) Calculate...
  10. gleem

    Three mile Island Power Plant to be Shut Down

    Exelon the current owner of Three Mile Island Power Plant will shut it down in about two weeks. This is 15 year short of its current license expiration date. The reason supposedly is the cost of operation since methane is currently so cheap. Exelon tried to persuade the Pennsylvania...
  11. TheBigDig

    Efficiency of a steam power plant

    My inital assumption was to just take T1 = 5600 and T2= 300K, find the maximum efficiency and then divide it by two and three but I don't believe this question to be that simple. I'm confused as to where the 750K fits in as I thought no matter what occurred in between the heat reservoir and heat...
  12. V

    Electrical Designing an off grid power plant

    Hello! I have some plans that i want to share and get some feedback on before i start construction and buying parts. I have some land next to a lake that i can build a dam with head of 30m around 10000m2 and almost 50000m3. I am thinking of solar panels and wind turbine to generate electricity...
  13. T

    What are benefits of Electricity of nuclear power plant

    Hello What are benefits of nuclear power plant electricity than hydro power generated electricity Does it cost less per unit any or the waveform is pure sine wave how engineer build it .
  14. G

    Power plant generator improvement

    I have looked over the types of generators used in most power plants (Hydro, Nuclear, coal etc) and with different sized and rotor rpm's they all basically share the same principle of operation if I'm not mistaken, which is that the rotor gets supplied via brushes and slip rings with a DC...
  15. Fabio Pastorino

    What is the size of the nuclear reactor part of a nuclear power plant

    Good morning at all, I have to do one research of the transport of large nuclear reactors, and I need to have an idea of which is the DIAMETER, HEIGHT and WEIGHT of the reactor I think that there are a lot of different dimension, but i want to know only approximately, because i don't have...
  16. Delta Force

    Question about Midland Cogenerating Nuclear Power Plant

    Midland Nuclear Power Plant was going to have two nuclear reactors from Babcock & Wilcox. Unit 1 was to have a capacity of 460 MWe, while Unit 2 was to have a capacity of 808 MWe. Were the reactors twins that simply had different steam machinery due to the cogeneration requirements or were they...
  17. P

    Answer for the Given on Steam Power Plant

    Steam Power Plant Questions
  18. M

    Phase of refrigerant crossing heat exchanger devices

    When a refrigerant crosses a heat exchanger device or has some heat added into it, like condenser/evaporator or boiler/cooling tower, does the phase always change? If that's so, why? Or do we need to check if the temperature is above or under the boiling point?
  19. T

    Understanding Nuclear Fission in Power Plants

    So I need some help verifying this information.(I had to dumb it down, for the younger ones) - The Nuclear Fission process is started when the Nuclear fuels rods are submerged in coolant water to moderate the Nuclear fission process. When the Fuel rods are put close together this sets of a...
  20. EnumaElish

    What is the fixed cost vs. variable cost breakdown for a nuclear power plant?

    I am trying to understand the fixed cost of a nuclear power plant relative to variable cost. By fixed cost I mean "cost that does not vary with the amount of the power outputted over a given time period." By variable cost I mean "cost items that vary with the amount of the power outputted...
  21. S

    Steam Power Plant Reheat Efficiency Calculation

    Homework Statement Homework Equations Heat added, Qa (This I'm not sure how since the steam passed through a reheater before it enters the HPT. That is what I understand based on the problem above) Work Net, Wnet Efficiency, Wnet/Qa Heat Rate, WP/EP (Not sure if that is the correct formula)...
  22. G

    Does current flow back to the power plant through the ground?

    Hi. I fear I might not have understood some fundamental concepts about electric power transmission. So we have "neutral" which is brought to Earth potential. Does this mean the electrical circuit from the power plant over highly conductive aluminium cables to my home closes back to the power...
  23. Delta Force

    Historical Power Plant Costs and Efficiencies?

    I'm wondering if anyone knows where I could find information on historical costs and efficiencies of various sources of energy (hydroelectricity, coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc.) and plant types (steam, diesel, and gas turbine), especially at facilities of various sizes. That information...
  24. HethensEnd25

    Pressure change at the inlet of a steam turbine in a small electric power plant

    Homework Statement A steam turbine in a small electric power plant is designed to accept 4500 kg of steam at 60 bar and 500oC and exhaust the stem at 10 bar. Part C. In off-peak hours, the power output of the turbine in part a) (100% efficient) is decreased by adjusting a throttling valve...
  25. K

    Volume of water required to cool thermal/nuclear plants?

    Homework Statement In the year 2004 the USA produced 1787 TWh of electrical energy in conventional thermal plants and 476 TWh in nuclear plants. Assuming 30% efficiency for nuclear plants and 40% for conventional thermal plants, determine the (annual) volume of cooling water required to cool...
  26. Delta Force

    Temperature and Power Plant Output?

    This is probably a very basic engineering question, but I'm from an energy policy background and the resources I've found (such as this) are quite detailed. Internal combustion engines such as automobile engines and aircraft (jet and piston powered) produce more power in colder environments and...
  27. Clara Chung

    Mutiple choice about hydroelectric power plant

    Homework Statement A hydroelectric power plant is built next to a reservoir with a water turbine beneath a dam. In normal operation, which of the following conditions will increase the flow rate of water, in kg s^-1 ,through the turbine. (1) There are too much water in the reservoir. (2) After...
  28. BrainMan

    Hydroelectric Power Plant Efficiency Calculation

    Homework Statement Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution What I attempted to do is .80(1/2)mv2 = Ee Where v is the velocity of the falling water, m is the mass of the falling water, and Ee is the electrical power generated by the electric plant. So then I solved for m since you...
  29. Cyril St-Amand

    Dismantlement of Nuclear Power Plant (Canada)

    Hi everyone this is my first time posting here, First of all, excuse my english because here in Mtl we speak French mostly. My team and I are working on an university project in Montreal (Qc) Canada (Polytechnique) regarding the recycling of radioactive material waste. We are working on the...
  30. Zlelik

    Is Hydroelectric power plant a perpetual motion machine?

    Is Hydroelectric power plant a perpetual motion machine of second kind from this classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion#Classification ? or not? If not which kind of perpetual motion machine is it? :)
  31. L

    Nuclear power plant - Control system

    Hi guys, I do apologize if this thread is in the incorrect place.. Long story short, I'm doing a university project based on developing an AI to control the power plant energy output. From my research so far, I've concluded that the control rods control the fission rate. The problem is, I for...
  32. Brakwa

    Is my air ejector condenser causing vacuum issues?

    Having trouble at a plant where the vacuum has increased to the point where a pump has been put on the end of the air ejector condenser to maintain vacuum, without it the limits would be too high and trip the Steam Turbine. The question is, does the air ejector condenser continuously drain...
  33. skepticwulf

    Optimizing Voltage for Power Transmission Efficiency

    Homework Statement An electric power plant can produce electricity at a fixed power P, but the plant operator is free to choose the voltage V at which it is produced. This electricity is carried as an electric current I through a transmission line (resistance R) from the plant to the user...
  34. E

    Zaporizhya Nuclear Power Plant Issues

    There are reports of a renewed reactor shutdown at Zaporizhya, the Ukraine's largest nuclear power station, as well as rumors of possible radiation leaks: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-30/ukraine-hiding-huge-radiation-leak-largest-nuclear-power-plant-Europe Given wretched weather and a...
  35. 462chevelle

    Moment of Inertia power plant energy

    Homework Statement It has been suggested that we should use our power plants to generate energy in the off-hours (such as late at night) and store it for use during the day. One idea put forward is to store the energy in large flywheels. Suppose we want to build such a flywheel in the shape of...
  36. P

    Hydroelectric power power plant

    Sir, why for a hydroelectric power power plant, the minimum height is 34 meter.? Please explain
  37. P

    What Are the Best Subjects for a Career in Power Plants?

    hi I want to work in a shipping industry or a power plant for my career. however the university I go to have made us choose 3 options for our final year subjects. I have chosen a thermo dynamics final year project. but I want to know would be better to get into this type of career? I have chosen...
  38. E

    News South Africa set to get a nuclear power plant funded by Russia

    South Africa is set to get a nuclear power plant, following the signing of a cooperation deal with Russia recently. Both sides noted that the nuclear power plant will have a production capacity of up to 9.6 GW based on Russian Technology, by 2030. Read more here...
  39. C

    Are Big Power Plant Generators Different than Small Generators?

    I'm curious to know whether these huge generators [700 MW, 2235 MW] are same in construction as small generators, except bigger frame, coils and magnets? Also they say Generator is Motor and vice versa. So does it mean those big generators can be used as Motor too? In reality is it wise to...
  40. S

    Max power plant output w/o killing river smelt?

    Homework Statement My simplified version of the equation: Power plant proposes output power increase from 188MW to 535 MW Excess heat is dumped into river with smelt. Smelt can withstand a 3.44C temp increase River = 222ft wide at dump site. Do not know depth or cross section here...
  41. C

    Waste power plant efficiency math problem

    Homework Statement If 230 million tonnes of solid waste were burned in waste-to-energy power plants that are 20% efficient a) how many kilowatt- hours of electrical energy could be produced in a year? Compare this quantity with the total US electrical energy production of 3.8 trillion...
  42. C

    PV power plant efficiency math problem?

    Homework Statement The controversial Cheviot open-pit coal mine in Alberta, Canada occupies 7,455 hectares (one hectare= 10^4 m^2) and produces 1.4 million tonnes of coal per year. a) use the energy content of coal of 29 MJ/kg to find the power in watts corresponding to this rate of...
  43. K

    Water Vortex Power Plant: Fluid Resistance

    Hi, I would like some help for my final project. I'm trying to find an eqn for fluid resistance which is present on the frontal side of the blade as it spins: so far what I've come up by dimensional analysis is the drag force equation: F=Cd x ( ρ x v^2)/2 x A to get the fluid...
  44. R

    Seawater power plant efficiency

    1. Problem statement A power plant generates electricity from the difference in sea temperature. At the surface of the sea the temperature is 27°C. At the bottom of the sea the temperature is 6°C. a) What is the highest efficiency that this plant can have? b) If the power plant generates...
  45. I

    Question on power plant generators

    I'm trying to understand exactly how power plant generators increase power output. So I will explain what I think is right. To increase the power output of a generator more torque from the prime mover is required to increase the torque angle between the voltage impressed on the stator from...
  46. marciokoko

    Concentrated Solar Power Plant Design

    Hello, We are a solar energy solutions provider and we are looking to explore CSP plants at smaller scales. I would like to understand the design better. Basically a CSP consists of: 1) steam turbine 2) solar energy collectors (mirrors) 3) water container (boiler) I would like to...
  47. N

    Gravitational Vortex Power plant

    Does anybody here have any information about gravitational vortex power plant..?
  48. F

    Find the maximum power of power plant

    Homework Statement The daily load demand of a grid is given by P=Pmax * cos(pi*t/24). Here -12hrs ≤ t ≤ 12hrs. Maximum power occurs at (t=0) and minimum occurs at (t= ±12). A 10 GW hydro power plant with pump storage is available for base load operation. The turn-around efficiency of the...
  49. S

    CSP power plant efficiency calculations

    Hello, please I want to know how to calculate the overall efficiency of a concentrated solar power plant (CSP) which uses parabolic trough concentrator,so please if you can provide me with detailed information and calculation method. Thank you
  50. M

    What are the costs associated with a combined cycle power plant?

    hello all I have a project about a combined cycle power plant costs from first to the end of the project. I just need the prices of componets of it. I need a guide to find them.
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