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How electricity is generated

According to the Law of conservation of energy, it states that energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed, however one form of energy can be transformed to another.

Electricity are generally generated from hydropower, thermal, nuclear, wind and solar energies. The generations of electricity are fundamentally based upon conversion of energy, from mechanical to electrical energy.

Hydropower: hydro plants are of different types, such as run-of-river (use of water as it comes), pondage (medium head) type, and reservoir (high head) type. Head is an acronym given to the vertical distance between the power house and the reservoir's height. The water in the reservoir is stored as a potential energy, and is channeled to the power house through a penstock. The potential energy of the water flows as a kinetic energy into the power house. The kinetic energy is used to turn the turbines, which are mechanically coupled with the generators. Thus, the mechanical energy of the turbine is converted into electrical energy by the electric generators.

Thermal/ Nuclear: in both the plants, the heat energy is used as a driving force to generate electricity. In thermal plants, coal is used to produce heat. The coal heats water to extreme temperatures, and the steam generated is used to rotate the turbines. Similarly, in a nuclear plant, through a nuclear fission the heat generated is used to heat water to produce steam. The steam rotates the turbine, which is also mechanically coupled with an electric generator.

Wind/ Solar: the concept involved in wind is also similar; the kinetic energy of the wind is converted into electrical energy though the rotation of the wind blades, which are mechanically coupled with an electric generator. The generator converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. However, the electric energy generated from solar is bit different. A solar panel is exposed to the sun, which consist of thousand of photoelectric cells. These photoelectric cells are excited by the heat absorbed from the sun, and this excited photoelectric cell produces currents, which flows to the consumers.

The generation of electricity is fundamentally based upon the conversion of energy, from the turbine to the generator, mechanical energy to electrical energy.

All rotating electrical machine must possess stator (stationary member), rotor (rotating member), and air-gap separating the stator and rotor, and the shaft bearing foundation. In addition to it, every


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