Generation of Electric Energy

Electric Power systems can be broken into three major parts; Generating Plants (or
Generators), Power End Users (or Loads) and Transmission and Distribution Network (that
connects them).
a) The GENERATION covers every thing from raw energy to actual electricity
production.
b) The TRANSMISSION involves getting the electricity from where it is generated to the
utilization place in which electricity is needed.
c) The DISTRIBUTION system is responsible of getting the power to every one from the
end users.
d) END USERS are the customers who need electricity.
Between generation and distribution, there are many devices that are working in harmony
to provide us with reliable, pure, flexible and continuous supply. A simple power system
configuration is presented in the figure below.

Figure: Power generation, transmission and distribution

Power System Structure

Figure: Simple power system structure

Challenges Influencing Generation and Transmission

There are four main characteristics of electricity supply, which have a profound effect on the
manner in which it is engineered; those factors are:

a) Electricity can not be stored. The supplier has minimal control over the demand at
any given time. Therefore, the control engineers try to keep the generation output
equal to the connected loads at the specified voltage and frequency. "Power System
Control"
b) There is a continuous increase in the demand for power. The rate of demand increase,
no matter how small it is, necessitate a massive addition to the existing system. A
large and continuous process of adding to the system thus exists. Networks evolved
over the years rather than planned in a clear-cut manner ad left untouched. "Power
System Planning"

c) The distribution and the nature of the available fuel. Usually the fuel resources are
not necessarily within the main load centers. For instance, coal is mined in areas,
which is far from load concentration. Moreover, hydroelectric power is usually
remote from large load centers. The problem of station sitting and transmission
distances are a complex exercise in economics. "Power System Analysis"

d) Environmental consideration. Environmental aspects have assumed major importance

and influenced the sitting, construction cost and operation of generating plants. Of
particular concern at the present time is the environmental impact of nuclear power
stations. "Power System Operation"

Generating Stations

Broadly defined, electrical power generation is taking some kind of fuel or energy source and
changing its form into electrical energy. In some cases we change its chemical composition
(characteristics) or burn them, in others we change its atomic composition. In some we don’t
consume any thing but rather just harness the energy of falling water and turn it into electrical
energy.
The major energy sources that are used in producing electricity are FOSSIL ENERGY,
HYDROLIC ENERGY and NUCLEAR ENERGY. This is in the order of utilization.
The following figure provides some details on these sources and their percentages. It can be
seen that most of the production has been in so called (conventional steam plants or Fossil
fuel plants). Conventional stem refers to stem generation by burning coal, petroleum or gas.
In addition, from this figure we can see that the electricity growth is increasing exponentially
until 1973. Subsequently the growth rate dropped reflecting the general slow down of
worldwide economic growth.
It should be declared, however, that the current utilized energy sources are somewhat
dangerous. They are polluting the environment and producing waste products that will be
around for some long time. In addition, they are rapidly being consumed while there is no
more being produced.
All this concerns have lead people to search for other means of getting electricity. Some of
the most popular new energy sources are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and tide
energy. Therefore, energy conversion methods can be broadly divided into two categories,
conventional and alternative.

Figure: Electric utility energy production

1) Conventional Methods of Electrical Energy Generation

There are two main methods that are commonly used for electric bulk power generation;

a) Hydropower Generating System

b) Thermal Generating System

Both methods employ an electric generator that converts mechanical energy of the prime
mover to electric energy. The source of the mechanical energy in the hydraulic generating
stations is water under pressure. While in the thermal generating stations, a boiler is used to
convert the energy of the fuel (coal, oil or nuclear fuel) into heat energy, which is used to
transform water into high temperature steam under high pressure. The steam rotates the steam
turbine the same way the water turns the hydraulic turbine.

a) Hydroelectric Generating Stations

Flowing water has a great potential in generating electricity. The first hydroelectric power
station was built in 1882 in Wisconsin. Today around the world hydroelectric power plants
have the potential to produce 675 GW.
Hydroelectric power is an important source of power accounting for approximately 14% of
the installed generating capacity. Hydroelectric power is generated when water flows through
hydraulic turbines as it flows from a higher to lower elevation. This water creates a force on
the blades of the turbine, which rotates a shaft connected to the electrical generator. The
electric power generated by this type of plant depends on the amount of water flowing
through the turbine and the water pressure head. The plant capacity in kW is given by:
P = 9.81QHη ,
Where:
Q= rate of flow in m3/s
H= pressure head of the water in m
η = efficiency of the plant
P= available water power in kW
P is the power that can be extracted from the waterfall. The pressure head H is the vertical
difference between the upper reservoir and the level of the turbine. The η is less than 100%
because of the friction losses in the water conduits and the turbine itself.
Hydroelectric Generation Features:
• High efficiency (80-90%)
• Low operating cost
• Environment safe
• Bulk power generation
• Fast output power control

Side benefits:
• River flow control
• Irrigation of agriculture lands

Figure: Hydroelectric plant construction

A high desirable feature of hydroelectric plants is the speed with which they may be started
up, brought up to speed, connected to power network and loaded up. This can be done in less
than 5 min., in contrast to many hours in the case of thermal plants.
There are different styles of hydroelectric generation. Dams are only one. Another
conventional form is run-of-river. As the name suggest, these facilities do not require
damming up a river but work in a flowing one. It is characterized by the relatively lower cost,
but their drawback is the seasonal fluctuations.
b) Pumped Storage Stations

Another useful method of utilizing water in the production of electric power is to use a
pumped storage plant. These plants pump the water to a high reservoir during times of low
power consumption (at night) and then in peak times, the water is allowed to flow downhill in
the conventional hydroelectric mode.
What remains to say is that hydroelectric power is one of the cleanest forms of electricity
since it doesn’t have any waste products.

Pumped Storage Generation Features:

• High efficiency (70-75%)
• Low construction cost (compared to Hydroelectric plants)
• Good utilization of the light demand periods for stability purpose.

c) Thermal (Fossil) Power Plant

In fossil power plants, coal, oil or natural gas is burned in a furnace. The combustion
products heat water, converting it to steam. This steam goes through some valves and drives a
turbine, which is mechanically coupled to an electric generator. The diagram in the figure
below shows a coal-fired plant.
Coal is taken from the storage and fed to a mill, mixed with preheated air and blown into the
furnace where it is burned. The furnace contains a complex of tubes called boiler through
which water is pumped. This water will evaporate into steam. The steam, at a typical pressure
of 3500 psi and temperature of 600 Cû is supplied through control valves to the steam turbine.
The control valve permits the output of the turbine-generator unit to be varied by adjusting
the steam flow. The stop valve has a protective function to prevent over-speed of the turbine-
generator unit if the electrical output drops suddenly.
The average power ratings of the turbine-generator units used in fossil plants ranges from
300-600 MW with a maximum size up to 1300MW.

The maximum efficiency of any system converting heat energy to mechanical energy is given
æ T ö
by: η = çç1 − 2 ÷÷ , where
è T1 ø

η is the efficiency of the system.

T1 and T2 are the temperature of the gas entering and leaving the turbine in Kû, respectively.
In most thermal generating stations, the utilized gas is steam. In order to obtain high
æT ö
efficiency, the product çç 2 ÷÷ should be as small as possible. However, T2 cannot be lower
è T1 ø

than the ambient temperature, which is usually 20Cû or 293Kû. This means that to obtain high
efficiency, T1 should be as high as possible. T1 cannot be greater than 600Cû, which is equal
to 873Kû. If this is the case, then the maximum possible efficiency will be equal to 66.4%.
Owing to other losses in the system, the overall system efficiency lays in the range of 40%,
(which means that 40% of the chemical energy in the coal is converted to electric energy).

Thermal Generation Features:

• Low efficiency (30-40%)
• Can work with heavy fuel
• Bulk power generation
• Slow start-up and loading
d) Geothermal Power Plant
e) Gas-Turbine Power Plant
f) Combined Steam-Gas Turbine Power Plant
g) Nuclear Power Plant (Unconventional Thermal Plant)

The third major source of energy utilized in producing electricity is the Nuclear power.
Controlled nuclear fission is the source of energy in a nuclear plant. In the process of fission,
heat is generated which is transferred to a coolant agent, which is normally water. The
produced steam will be directed by some control valves to a turbine connected to a generator.
Although it might appear that the only difference between fossil and nuclear plants is the way
of producing steam, there are some other differences. For example, nuclear steam generators
are currently limited in their temperature output to about 600F compared to 1000F in the
fossil. This will affect the thermal efficiency, which will be 30% instead of 40%.

Nuclear Power Generation Features:

• Environment unsafe (radioactive leakage and waste)
• Very complex
• Very high power units
• Low efficiency (30%)

Nuclear Fusion
Nuclei of light elements are fused to form heavier nuclei. This process is accompanied by the
release of large amount of heat that is used in the heating process of the water.

Nuclear Fusion Features:

• Safe (no radioactive waste, no danger of explosion)
• Still not technically feasible for commercial power generation.

Problems with Conventional Methods:

• Dissipating limited resources of chemical fuels
• Low conversion efficiency
• Thermal pollution
• Air pollution
• Safety hazards
2) Unconventional Methods of Electrical Energy Generation

a. Solar Power Plants

Principle of Operation: Photo-electricity (When photons of light hit a material, electrons are
liberated).

Solar Cells are made of semiconductor materials. At the junction of an n-type semiconductor
and a p-type semiconductor, a potential difference is established by
the diffusion of electrons. When the p-type is exposed to light, its
electrons absorb photons and become free. Free electrons pass into
the n-type material and a current is produced in a closed circuit. To
get high enough voltage and current levels, many solar cells are
combined.

Solar Power Plant Features

• Efficiency up to 15% using silicon solar cells

• Complexity of manufacturing semiconductors
• High cost
• Variable output power level
• Suitable for applications such as charging up batteries in satellites and space stations
• Immense energy reserve: Sun
b. Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) Plants

In principle the MHD generator is the same as a conventional DC generator, however, the
main differences are:
• In MHD, the ionized gas (plasma) serves the purpose of the conductor.
• In MHD, the flow of the ionized gas replaces the prime mover in the DC generator.
• Using Faraday’s law, the electromagnetic induction for moving conductor is: E = Blv ,
where: E is the induced emf, l is the length of the conductor, v is the velocity and B is
the uniform magnetic field.
c. Thermionic Energy Conversion

In thermionic converter, heat energy is converted to electrical energy by thermionic emission,

whereby electrons are emitted from the surface of certain metal when sufficiently heated. The
emitter (cathode) is heated by input heat Qi and the electrons are emitted. Some of these
electrons are received by the cold collector (anode) at an output heat Qo. The difference in
heat (Qi- Qo) is the energy that drives the electrons through the external circuit and appears as
the electrical energy.
The cathode can be heated by nuclear reaction or the sun. The first prototype efficiency was
15%, but it is expected to be able to raise it to 40%.
d. Electrochemical Cells (Fuel Cells)
e. Tidal Power Plants
Electrical Power Demand

Facts about Energy

• World supply of fossil fuels will last for a few 100 years
• 60% of world’s oil reserves are in the Middle east (10% in USA)
• Large generator output voltage level 13.8-24kV
• High voltages are ranging 115-765kV.