Power Plants

A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many power stations contain one or more generators, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into three-phase electric power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electric current.
The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Low-carbon power sources include nuclear power and the use of renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric. Types are;

Thermal Power Stations
Rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power station in thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that transforms thermal energy, often from combustion of a fuel, into rotational energy. Most thermal power stations produce steam, so they are sometimes called steam power stations. Not all thermal energy can be transformed into mechanical power, according to the second law of thermodynamics; therefore, there is always heat lost to the environment. If this loss is employed as useful heat, for industrial processes or district heating, the power plant is referred to as a cogeneration power plant or CHP (combined heat and power) plant. In countries where district heating is common, there are dedicated heat plants called heat-only boiler stations. An important class of power stations in the Middle East uses by-product heat for the desalination of water.

The efficiency of a thermal power cycle is limited by the maximum working fluid temperature produced. The efficiency is not directly a function of the fuel used. For the same steam conditions, coal-, nuclear- and gas power plants all have the same theoretical efficiency. Overall, if a system is on constantly (base load) it will be more efficient than one that is used intermittently (peak load). Steam turbines generally operate at higher efficiency when operated at full capacity.

Classification
By heat source;

Fossil-fuel power stations may also use a steam turbine generator or, in the case of natural gas-fired power plants, may use a combustion turbine. A coal-fired power station produces heat by burning coal in a steam boiler. The steam drives a steam turbine and generator that then produces electricity. The waste products of combustion include ash, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. Some of the gases can be removed from the waste stream to reduce pollution.
Nuclear power plants use the heat generated in a nuclear reactor's core (by the fission process) to create steam, which then operates a steam turbine and generator. About 20 percent of electric generation in the USA is produced by nuclear power plants.
Geothermal power plants use steam extracted from hot underground rocks. These rocks are heated by the decay of radioactive material in the Earth's core.
Biomass-fuelled power plants may be fuelled by waste from sugar cane, municipal solid waste, landfill methane, or other forms of biomass.
In integrated steel mills, blast furnace exhaust gas is a low-cost, although low-energy-density, fuel.
Waste heat from industrial processes is occasionally concentrated enough to use for power generation, usually in a steam boiler and turbine.
Solar thermal electric plants use sunlight to boil water and produce steam, which turns the generator.

Power from renewable energy;

Hydroelectric Power station
Solar Power Plant
Wind Power Plant
Osmosis Power Plant
Marine (Ocean) Power Plant
Biomass Power Plant