BY – ROHIT SAXENA

ROLL NUMBER – 196035

5TH SEMESTER, 3RD YEAR
B.ARCH
N.I.T HAMIRPUR

REPORT ON:-
Types of Power Plants
INTRODUCTION
The different types of power plants are classified depending on the type of fuel used. For the
purpose of bulk power generation, thermal, nuclear, and hydropower are the most efficient. A
power generating station can be broadly classified into the three above-mentioned types. Let us
have a look at these types of power stations in detail.

Hydro-Electric Power Plant

In Hydroelectric plants, the energy of the falling water is utilized to drive the turbine which in turn
runs the generator to produce electricity. Rain falling upon the earth’s surface has potential energy
relative to the oceans towards which it flows. This energy is converted to shaft work where the
waterfalls through an appreciable vertical distance. The hydraulic power is, therefore, a naturally
available renewable energy given by the equation:

P = gρ QH

Where, g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/sec 2

ρ = density of water = 1000 kg/m3

H = height of fall of water.

This power is utilized for rotating the alternator shaft, to convert it to equivalent electrical energy.

An important point to be noted is that the hydro-electric plants are of much lower capacity
compared to their thermal or nuclear counterpart.

For this reason, hydro plants are generally used in scheduling with thermal stations, to serve the
load during peak hours. They in a way assist the thermal or the nuclear plant to deliver power
efficiently during periods of peak hours.

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Advantages of Hydro Electric Power Station

• It requires no fuel, water is used for generation of electrical energy.

• It is neat and clean energy generation.
• Construction is simple, less maintenance is required.
• It helps in irrigation and flood control also.

Disadvantages Hydro Electric Power Station

• It involves high capital cost due to dam construction.

• Availability of water depends upon weather conditions.
• It requires high transmission cost as the plant is located in hilly areas.

Thermal Power Plant

A thermal power station or a coal fired thermal power plant is by far, the most conventional method
of generating electric power with reasonably high efficiency. It uses coal as the primary fuel to boil
the water available to superheated steam for driving the steam turbine.

The steam turbine is then mechanically coupled to an alternator rotor, the rotation of which results
in the generation of electric power. Generally in India, bituminous coal or brown coal are used as
fuel of boiler which has volatile content ranging from 8 to 33% and ash content 5 to 16 %. To
enhance the thermal efficiency of the plant, the coal is used in the boiler in its pulverized form.

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In coal fired thermal power plant, steam is obtained in very high pressure inside the steam boiler by
burning the pulverized coal. This steam is then super heated in the super heater to extreme high
temperature. This super heated steam is then allowed to enter into the turbine, as the turbine
blades are rotated by the pressure of the steam.

The turbine is mechanically coupled with alternator in a way that its rotor will rotate with the
rotation of turbine blades. After entering into the turbine, the steam pressure suddenly falls leading
to corresponding increase in the steam volume.

After having imparted energy into the turbine rotors, the steam is made to pass out of the turbine
blades into the steam condenser of the turbine. In the condenser, cold water at ambient
temperature is circulated with the help of a pump which leads to the condensation of the low-
pressure wet steam.

Then this condensed water is further supplied to low pressure water heater where the low pressure
steam increases the temperature of this feed water, it is again heated in high pressure. This outlines
the basic working methodology of a thermal power plant.

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Advantages of Thermal Power Plants

• Fuel used i.e coal is quite cheaper.

• Initial cost is less as compared to other generating stations.
• It requires less space as compared to hydro-electric power stations.

Disadvantages of Thermal Power Plants

• It pollutes atmosphere due to production of smoke and fumes.

• Running cost of the power plant is more than hydro electric plant.

Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear power plants are similar to thermal stations in more ways than one. However, the exception
here is that radioactive elements like uranium and thorium are used as the primary fuel in place of
coal. Also in a Nuclear station, the furnace and the boiler are replaced by the nuclear reactor and the
heat exchanger tubes.

For the process of nuclear power generation, the radioactive fuels are made to undergo fission
reaction within the nuclear reactors. The fission reaction, propagates like a controlled chain reaction
and is accompanied by unprecedented amount of energy produced, which is manifested in the form
of heat.

This heat is then transferred to the water present in the heat exchanger tubes. As a result, super
heated steam at very high temperature is produced. Once the process of steam formation is
accomplished, the remaining process is exactly similar to a thermal power plant, as this steam will
further drive the turbine blades to generate electricity.

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Diesel Power Plant

In a diesel power station, diesel engine is used as the prime mover. The diesel burns inside the
engine and the products of this combustion act as the working fluid to produce mechanical energy.
The diesel engine drives alternator which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. As the
generation cost is considerable due to high price of diesel, therefore, such power stations are only
used to produce small power. Although steam power stations and hydroelectric plants are invariably
used to generate bulk power at cheaper costs, yet diesel power stations are finding favour at places
where demand of power is less, sufficient quantity of coal and water is not available and the
transportation facilities are inadequate. This plants are also standby sets for continuity of supply to
important points such as hospitals, radio stations, cinema houses and telephone exchanges.

Advantages of Diesel Power Plant

• This is simple in design point of view.

• Required very small space.
• It can also be designed for portable use.
• It has quick starting facility; the small diesel generator set can be started within few seconds.
• It can also be stopped as when required stopping small size diesel power station, even easier
than it’s starting
• As these machines can easily be started and stopped as when required, there may not be
any standby loss in the system.
• Cooling is easy and required smaller quantity of water in this type power station.
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 • Initial cost is less than other types of power station.
• Thermal efficiency of diesel is quite higher than of coal.
• Small involvement is less than steam power station.
• It requires less operating staff.
• The overall cost is much less than that of steam power station of same capacity.

Disadvantages of Diesel Power Plant

• As we have already mentioned, the cost of diesel is very high compared to coal. This is the
main reason for which a diesel power plant is not getting popularity over other means of
generating power. In other words the running cost of this plant is higher compared to steam
and hydro power plants.
• The plant generally used to produce small power requirement.
• Cost of lubricants is high.
• Maintenance is quite complex and costs high.
• The plant doesn’t work satisfactorily under overload conditions for a longer period.
• The cost of lubrication is generally high.
• The maintenances charges are generally high

Solar Power Plant (making use of the available solar energy)

Solar radiation may be converted directly into electricity by solar cells (photovoltaic cells). In such
cells, a small electric voltage is generated when light strikes the junction between a metal and a
semiconductor (such as silicon) or the junction between two different semiconductors. (See
photovoltaic effect.) The power generated by a single photovoltaic cell is typically only about two
watts. By connecting large numbers of individual cells together, however, as in solar-panel arrays,
hundreds or even thousands of kilowatts of electric power can be generated in a solar electric plant
or in a large household array. The energy efficiency of most present-day photovoltaic cells is only
about 15 to 20 percent, and, since the intensity of solar radiation is low to begin with, large and
costly assemblies of such cells are required to produce even moderate amounts of power.

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Wind Power Plant (energy available from the wind turbines)
Wind power generation is power generation that converts wind energy into electric energy. The
wind generating set absorbs wind energy with a specially designed blade and converts wind energy
to mechanical energy, which further drives the generator rotating and realizes conversion of wind
energy to electric energy.

The commonly used wind power generation systems include the direct-driven wind power
generating set and the double-fed wind power generating set; the direct-driven wind power
generating set is connected to the grid through a full power converter, while the double-fed wind
power generating set is connected to the grid through a double-fed converter.

Biomass Power Plant

Biopower technologies convert renewable biomass fuels into heat and electricity using processes
similar to those used with fossil fuels. There are three ways to release the energy stored in biomass
to produce biopower: burning, bacterial decay, and conversion to gas/liquid fuel.

The technology for generation of electricity from these biomass materials is similar to the
conventional coal-based thermal power generation. The biomass is burnt in boilers to generate
steam, which drives a turbo alternator for generation of electricity.

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Advantages

• These projects can be designed to match the electric loads as biomass can be stored and
used according to demand.
• Equipment for these projects is similar to that for coal-based thermal power projects and
hence, no new technological developments are required.
• Due to their proximity to the rural areas, these projects are likely to improve quality of
electricity supply there.
• A variety of biomass materials can be used in the same plant, providing flexibility of
operations.

Tidal Power Plant

Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power,
mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the
potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than the wind and the sun.
Among sources of renewable energy, tidal energy has traditionally suffered from relatively high cost
and limited availability of sites with sufficiently high tidal ranges or flow velocities, thus constricting
its total availability. However, many recent technological developments and improvements, both in
design (e.g. dynamic tidal power, tidal lagoons) and turbine technology (e.g. new axial turbines,
cross flow turbines), indicate that the total availability of tidal power may be much higher than
previously assumed and that economic and environmental costs may be brought down to
competitive levels.

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Geo-thermal Power Plant (Energy available in the Earth’s
crust)
Geothermal power plants use hydrothermal resources that have both water (hydro) and heat
(thermal). Geothermal power plants require high-temperature (300°F to 700°F) hydrothermal
resources that come from either dry steam wells or from hot water wells. People use these
resources by drilling wells into the earth and then piping steam or hot water to the surface. The hot
water or steam powers a turbine that generates electricity. Some geothermal wells are as much as
two miles deep.

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Power Generation and Transmission
Power transmission is the large scale movement of electricity at high voltage levels from a
power plant to a substation. whereas power distribution is the conversion of high voltage
electricity at substations to lower voltages that can be distributed and used by private, public,
and industrial customers.

Electrical power transmission involves the bulk movement of electrical energy from a
generating site, such as a power station or power plant, to an electrical substation where
voltage is transformed and distributed to consumers or other substations

Primary Transmission
When it is generated at a power station, electrical energy will typically be anywhere between
11kV and 33kV. Before it is sent to distribution centers via transmission lines, it is stepped
up using a transformer to a voltage level that can be anywhere between 100kV and 700kV or
more, depending on the distance that it needs to be transmitted; the longer the distance, the
higher the voltage level.

The reason electrical power is stepped up to these voltage levels is to make it more efficient
by reducing the I2R losses that take place when power is transmitted. When voltage is
stepped up, the current reduces relative to the voltage so that power remains constant, thus
reducing these I2R losses.

• Power = Voltage × Current

P = VI

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 • Loss = (Current)2 × Resistance
L = I2 R

This stage is known as primary transmission—the transfer of a large quantity of

electrical power from the initial generating station to the substation via overhead
electrical lines.

Secondary Transmission
When electrical power reaches a receiving station, the voltage is stepped back down to a
voltage typically between 33kV and 66kV. It is then sent to transmission lines emerging from
this receiving station to electrical substations closer to “load centers” such as cities, villages,
and urban areas. This process is known as secondary transmission.

When electrical power reaches a substation, it is stepped down once more by a step-down
transformer to voltages closer to what it was generated at—usually around 11kV. From here,
the transmission phase graduates to the distribution phase, and electrical power is used to
meet demand from primary and secondary consumers.

➢ For 11 KV transmission line we need 4.6 m ground clearance.

➢ For 33 KV transmission line we need 6 m ground clearance.
➢ For increase in every 33 KV in transmission line we go for the addition of 0.3 m
ground clearance.

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