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The
process of generating electric power is “relatively simple”.
The huge demand for electricity, environmental concerns and operating
requirements
cause plants and equipment to be huge in size therefore introducing
complexity to the process.
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The production of most electric power begins with the burning (or
reaction) of a fuel such as coal, oil, natural gas or a nuclear
reaction. The resulting heat is used to super heat large quantities
of water to steam.
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Steam is created in a
boiler arrangement where heat is indirectly applied to water
to create high temperature steam. The steam is piped to a turbine
containing blades much like a jet engine. The steam is directed
at the blades causing the turbine to rotate very rapidly.
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The turning turbine is
connected to a generator. The generator is turned by the turbine
creating electricity by exciting the hydrogen contained in the
generator. The charges generated are passed on to the transformer
to create higher voltages for driving transmission to users.
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The
steam used to turn the turbine continues on to what is known
as the condenser tube bundles which are usually located directly
under the turbine. The steam engages the tube bundles to be cooled
back into water. The tube bundles contain thousands of tubes
with cool water running through them. When the hot steam hits
the cooler tubes in the tube bundle the steam cools and begins
to transform to water. The transformation back to water creates
a vacuum (negative pressure) pulling the steam into the center
of the tube bundle faster and across the turbine faster thus
assisting the process. The cooled water is returned to the source
which is usually a large cooling tower or body of flowing water
such as a lake, river or the ocean.
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Many power
plant sites are located just outside of areas containing large
populations, close to bodies of water and near pipelines for
gas and oil delivery or rail sidings for coal deliveries. The
sites tend to be very large and many contain several independent
units built over time to keep pace with electricity demand
in the area.
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The
production of electric power is a 24/7/365 process, never ceasing
production. Large amounts of power can not be stored
so it is produced to meet demand. Every time you switch a light on
or off, you slightly change the demand and power plants work constantly
to meet our ever changing need for electric power.
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The Power Industry is quite simply "AMAZING".
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