Steam-Electric Power Station

A steam-electric power station is a power station whose electric generator is driven by steam: water is heated until it turns to steam, the steam spins a turbine, and the turbine drives an electric generator, after which the used steam is cooled in a condenser and recycled back into the boiler. Reciprocating steam engines powered the first commercial central power stations, built in New York and London in 1882; steam turbines later replaced them because turbines were more efficient and cheaper to build, and by the 1920s turbines were standard in stations above a few thousand kilowatts. Most of the world electricity supply is generated by steam-electric power stations, since nearly all coal, nuclear, and geothermal plants, along with many natural gas plants, use this technology. A conventional steam-electric plant converts 33 to 48 percent of its fuel energy into electricity, a limit set by the laws of thermodynamics, with the rest lost as waste heat carried away by cooling towers or water systems. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/