Week 1 – Session 6

Electricity generation

Arash FARNOOSH

MOOC ENERGY TRANSITION

IFP SCHOOL
Introduction
During the next few minutes, we will get an overview of the whole electricity chain, before
looking at the most common means of power generation in more detail.

The electricity chain

When we look at the traditional electricity chain, we generally distinguish 4 segments: the
first is “generation”, where electricity is produced from various types of plants; this electricity
must then be transported, first over long distances with very high voltage, using the power
transmission grid, before dispatching it over the distribution network, to final consumers,
either industrial, commercial or residential.

Nevertheless, very large consumers can be connected directly to the transmission grid if they
need a large volume of electricity for their activity: for example this is the case for big
manufacturing units, steel production firms, high-speed trains etc…

Power generation fundamentals

Now, let’s focus on the generation side, and discover how we produce electric power. This
process is done through the rotary movement of a magnet inside another one, the moving
part is called the rotor and the fixed one is called the stator. These two pieces together form
what we call an electric generator.

So, the main objective of any plant (except photovoltaic) is to bring this rotary movement to
the rotor of the generation unit. This is done using a turbine, which can be run either with

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steam or hot gas. Finally, the turbine/generator couple is installed on one shaft and rotates
simultaneously in order to produce electricity.

Fossil powered thermal plants

What we saw in the previous video is that two thirds of electricity is produced by thermal
power plants, run either from coal, natural or fuel-oil. Let’s now have a look at the most
traditional example, which is coal, and see how it works. First, coal is burnt in the boiler for its
thermal energy in order to heat water and generate steam.

This pressurized steam is then injected through the turbine blades to provide the rotary
movement needed by the generator. So now we have our electricity and the only thing we
need to do is to increase the voltage through a transformer before the final injection in the
transmission lines.

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Why do we seek a higher voltage? It is simply done to reduce losses when we transport this
electricity over very long distances. This is the case for any power plant connected to the
transmission grid.

Nuclear
Now that you understand the general principles of electricity generation, you can see that
even the most complex ones follow the same process. For example, in the case of nuclear
you have exactly the same structure, with steam triggering a turbine/generator couple.
However, in the case of nuclear, the main challenges are related to the fuel, both in terms of
preparation and heat control.

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Preparation, because on the contrary to coal, we cannot burn uranium ore directly. It must
undergo several processes such as conversion, enrichment and fabrication before serving as
a final fuel in the core of the reactor. And of course, heat control process is very important so
as to dampen the chain reaction up to the point necessary for generating steam.

Renewable thermal plants

At this point, keep in mind that plants powered by steam turbine can sure be fueled by fossil
and nuclear sources, but biomass, geothermal power and concentrated solar thermal follow
the same principle: they all bring thermal energy for heating water, followed by the rotary
movement of a turbine/generator couple.

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 Combined-cycle gas turbines
As we mentioned at the beginning of the video, the turbine can also be powered by hot gas.
A frequent example is through the use of a combined-cycle gas turbine. In that case, hot gas
(following combustion) is injected directly into the turbine, but the heat is then recovered in
order to be reused to generate steam for another turbine. Why do we do it? Because it
greatly improves the efficiency of the whole cycle!

Wind & Hydro: nature powered turbines

Until now, we have only focused on thermal generation units, but hydraulic and wind plants
require the same rotary movement. Using the kinetic energy of nature: either from the force
of water in the case of hydro or other marine energies, or the air velocity for turning the wind
turbine. The size, shape and dimension of the plant can vary significantly according to the
site specificities.

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 Solar photovoltaic
Last but not least, the only source of power generation that does not use a turbine is solar
PV. In this case, the principle is totally different from the previous ones: no boiler, no turbine,
no alternating current generator. Solar cells convert light into electricity, as a result of the
photovoltaic effect. These cells are constructed with materials (mostly silicon based) that can
generate this effect and produce direct current electricity.

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Electricity generated from solar PV panels is finally inverted into alternating current and
injected either in the transmission grid, for large-scale plants, or into the distribution network
for small PV units used by residential or small businesses.

To sum up what we mentioned, the electricity chain is composed of 4 segments: generation,

transmission, distribution and consumption. In this video, we focused on the first segment:
how we produce electricity. Power is generated thanks to the rotary movement of two
magnets inside a power generator.

Coal, natural gas, fuel oil, nuclear and biomass all use thermal conversion to generate steam
and bring this rotary movement. Wind and hydro also use a generator that is moved by
forces of nature: wind and water movement. Solar PV is the only technique that does not use
a turbine but converts light into electricity through the photovoltaic effect.

At this stage, you are familiar with the general principles of producing electricity not only from
conventional sources, but also with renewables. As explained in the previous video, for
limiting the rise of CO2 emissions associated with fossil generation units, we need to expand
significantly the low-carbon sources. This task comes with many challenges, that my
colleague Sidney will present to you in one of the following videos.

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