Have you ever imagined what would be the world like without electricity? Oh, it is quite horrible. What if the imagination becomes real? Thus, to save you from any daunting situation below, we are discussing everything you should know about electricity generation.
In 1600 William Gilbert coined the term electricity from the Greek word “electron”.He surely didn’t know about its importance. Today, people are using several methods to generate electricity. The three basic energy resources to generate electricity are coal, natural gas, and petroleum. But, nowadays you can also find nuclear and renewable energy resources. They meet the desired energy requirement by running steam turbines. The steam turbines are usually powered by fossil fuels, biomass, solar and nuclear energy. Moreover, how can we forget the increasing usage of hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaic cells?
How do turbine generators work to generate electricity?
The electric power plants in most of the world are driven through turbines. A turbine generator uses steam,air, fluid, or water to run the blades mounted on the rotor shaft. This movement converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.
As mentioned above, different types of turbines are working to generate electricity. We are here discussing a few of them to clear the generation concept.
Steam turbines:
The steam turbine is mostly used all over the world. According to a report, U.S was generating 48% of electricity in 2019 using steam turbines. The steam turbine consists of a boiler. The boiler burns the fuel to generate steam. Nuclear power plants turn fuel rods into steam. Similarly, solar power plants create steam using solar energy.
Gas-combustion turbines:
If you know how a jet engine works it will easier to understand the working of the gas-combustion turbine. This type of turbine produces electricity by burning liquid fuels. The liquid fuels turn into hot gases and move the blades placed in a turbine.
Hydro-electric turbine:
Hydro means “water “so it can be clearly understood that this turbine uses water to generate electric power. The pressure of water moves the turbine blades thus power is generated. The water is stored in a reservoir or directly comes from the river. According to a report published in 2019 about 7% of U.S electricity generation is driven through the hydroelectric turbine.
Wind turbines:
In earlier times wind was one of the main sources of producing electricity. When the wind blows it turns the rotary blades which becomes the reason for power generation. There are two main types of wind turbines (horizontal axis, vertical axis). Wind turbines were also generating 7% of U.S electricity in 2019.
Wrapping up:
As the world progresses some new ways are also introduced to generate electricity. Besides turbine generators, some other generators are also working nowadays. Likewise, Solar voltaic cell-These cells are popular in the industry. The reason for its immense popularity is its ability to directly convert solar energy to electrical energy. These voltaic cells can power wrist watches as well as they can light your home . The world is also using diesel engines to produce electricity.