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The majority of the world's thermal power stations are driven by steam turbines, gas turbines, or a combination of the two. The efficiency of a thermal power station is determined by how effectively it converts heat energy into electrical energy, specifically the ratio of saleable electricity to the heating value of the fuel used.
For a heat engine, thermal efficiency is the ratio of the net work output to the heat input; in the case of a heat pump, thermal efficiency (known as the coefficient of performance or COP) is the ratio of net heat output (for heating), or the net heat removed (for cooling) to the energy input (external work). The efficiency of a heat engine is ...
The efficiency of a heat engine, the fraction of input heat energy that can be converted to useful work, is limited by the temperature difference between the heat entering the engine and the exhaust heat leaving the engine. In a thermal power station, water is the working medium. High pressure steam requires strong, bulky components.
[27] [28] Numerious criteria are used to select an oil for a particular application: high energy storage capacity and specific heat capacity, high thermal conductivity, high chemical and physical stability, low coefficient of expansion, low cost, availability, low corrosion and compatibility with compounds materials, limited environmental ...
His 1882 Pearl Street Station, the world's first commercial power plant, was a combined heat and power plant, producing both electricity and thermal energy while using waste heat to warm neighboring buildings. [62] Recycling allowed Edison's plant to achieve approximately 50 percent efficiency.
The United States had a nameplate generation capacity of 1,213 GW in 2021. [7] The following table summarizes the electrical energy generated by fuel source for the United States grid in 2021. Figures account for generation losses, but not transmission losses. Fission had the highest capacity factor, while petroleum had the lowest.
The efficiency of a conventional steam–electric power plant, defined as energy produced by the plant divided by the heating value of the fuel consumed by it, is typically 33 to 48%, limited as all heat engines are by the laws of thermodynamics (See: Carnot cycle). The rest of the energy must leave the plant in the form of heat.
Frequently, thermoelectric generators are used for low power remote applications or where bulkier but more efficient heat engines such as Stirling engines would not be possible. Unlike heat engines, the solid state electrical components typically used to perform thermal to electric energy conversion have no moving parts. The thermal to electric ...