Wow! it takes some 4 Million horsepower to generate 2900 Megawatts....in a perfect world with no losses. Thank you for maintaining and supervising your emissions systems. Clearly, most of the public has no idea how ''clean'' your plant is as compared to earlier coal fired plants. In fact, the public has no comprehension of the magnitude of designing, building, and operating a power station such as yours. Electric Power Distribution falls in the realm of magic for most citizens. They complain about environmental impact yet are the first to cry when power gets interrupted by storm, winds, accidents, etc. I am a retired Field Engineer who started at General Electric Co. installing and maintaining gas turbine generator sets throughout the world. A 70 Megawatt unit is HUGE for me! Great video. I appreciate your work!
( Your message) : I prefer nuclear power, natural gas and liquified petroleum gas. (My message) : You just use natural gas 10% to be input, and my tech will amplify (boost) natural gas to become natural gas 90% for generate the massive electricity.
There is a ton of misinformation in the comments regarding alternative energy sources. So, just to be clear; 1) All conventional thermal power plants operate exactly the same way. The only variable is the source of the heat: nuclear fission, combusted fuel, concentrated solar radiation, etc. Every single one uses the same turbine, heat exchanger, induction generator, heat removal fluid (a water mixture). 2) The reason we don't just switch to all solar and wind generation is because there is no good way to store energy. We don't use the same amount of power throughout the day; there is a huge spike in demand in the afternoon through late evening, and very little usage at night. This is called demand response: the grid must be able to quickly adapt to large surges in energy demand within minutes. Most renewables (save for hydroelectric damming) just don't have that level of flexibility. If the sun isn't shining, your photovoltaics aren't on. Thermal plants have been time tested to be able to respond to these fluctuations. 3) As some have pointed out, there is some type of balance to strike between electricity sources. Supplementing traditional thermal plants with alternatives is the only realistic way to meet our modern energy demands. That is, unless we can find a way to store excess energy produced in low demand periods (this is particularly important for wind). 4) Moreover, the small scale cost of solar panels and wind turbines is very appealing but the scaled cost of operation ($/MWh) is laughably outrageous compared to a nuclear or coal-fired thermal plant due to the energy availability factor (EAF) alone. TL;DR In sum, coal plants won't be gone any time soon, and there is no silver bullet "just use x" solution at this time, primarily due to the lack of proper energy storage and redistribution technologies.
I won't deny that solar and wind are extremely expensive in comparison, but to say we don't have any good way to store electricity from alternative sources just isn't true. We've been doing pumped energy storage since the late 1800s, it's very reliable, fast in response and with very little loss. While pumped storage won't work smack dab in the middle of the Great Plains or something, modern power distribution means you can build it pretty far away from where you'll be needing the power. Also, the advances made in the field of flywheel energy storage makes it so storage facilities can be (and have been) built with a realistically reasonable budget. They'll lose some power over time, but it won't be an appreciable amount between the moment the excess power is stored and the time it is needed to meet peak grid demands.
You can store solar heat in water at high efficiency and low cost and extract that energy using a closed vacuum steam turbine and condenser system with degassed water.
@@Barskor1 re: "You can store solar heat in water at high efficiency and low cost and" SOUNDS like a great business model ... WHY aren't MORE ppl doing it? Oh? NOT such a great idea after all, eh?
People are always fascinated (as was I) at the amount of coal used every day at one plant. What isn't reflected in this animation is the massive energy demand we have that has created this coal gobbling industry. We make a ton of electricity because we use a ton of it.
I've been in the power generation industry for 30-years, and this is the best overview of coal-fired power generation that I've seen. It's very well done. I follow-up with one for natural gas fired, combined cycle, which has twice the efficiency, would be a great addition. But I'm sure something like this is very expensive to produce. Keep up the good work.
In Helsinki /Finland at Vuosaari power plant we have such a combined gas turbine + steam turbine system producing electricity + heat. The el. efficiency is 60 % and still it gives much heat for heating buildings. Bio gas of organic wastes is used in a combined diesel motor + orc-turbine giving el. + heat energy.
Cheers for this, I have been researching "generating green electricity" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Diyadison Penhloe Blaster - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? It is a great one off guide for generating your own electricity minus the headache. Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my friend got amazing success with it.
I know the fly ask can be used for cement but what can the bottom ask be used for? Saw a video about a Canadian coal fired plant where the bottom ask didn't seem to have any use? Anyone know what bottom ask can be used for?
So much was left out. You cannot just use chlorinated river water for the steam. Those turbine blades would be destroyed in no time. That water needs to be clean and pure for when it’s turned into dry superheated steam. Those turbines run with steam at 3000lbs of pressure at 1005°F. So much more into it then what was said here.
Thanks for the comment. Since this is a general overview video, not a tutorial on how to operate a power plant, so there’s obviously many details that couldn’t be included. But your comment does bring up good additional information. I appreciate you adding that.
@@edpvideo I get that, but even for the “simple” explanation I personally would have added something simple like “use river water that is then purified “ and go from there. It was a decent explanation though.
Not mentioned: the arsenic, mercury, cadmium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other materials released into the atmosphere that cannot be easily or economically dealt with.
It looks like only 1% of world mercury contamination is from coal. So please be honest that you want to double electricity costs for the poorest countries to have a negligible reduction in mercury. czcams.com/video/CHkVBi_B1Yc/video.html
Yes ,third world countries are the most polluted,,and as far as mercury ,its in everything we drink & eat,& arsenic in all produce, (orange juice),,remember germ X,removed from schools ?,,arsenic in it.."" ,also dishwashing liquid,arsenic "".rinse your produce & your dishes, they say!,,,lol,WHY IS asbestos and alumian in baby powder ??for God knows how long ?,,now,""micro plastic is in our bodies ,,food ,animals ,fish,water,.,etc."sheet rock made from poison produced by "clean coal!-,lol., that will keep your family safe!--,That's why they stopped delivering coal to residential homes for heating back in the 40,s,, killing their customers. Bears in Alaska have Micro Plastic from eating salmon.Google it!-♡,37years studying evolving Toxins turn into living bacteria known as Toxic Mold.jus sayinn!☆saying!"" Ask me about CHEM TRAILS ", Big Corporations will poison your children for a nickel.Thank God I have a motorcycle to ride !-♡,lol.PEACE OUT Teeeee!
Carbon monoxide is already dealt with. It is emmitted at levels that are "below detectable limits". They will use CO catalysts that reduce it to basically 0.
@NathansHVAC For fuck sake, Miller burns ~30,000 tons of coal daily. At $50/ton, that would be $1,500,000/day. Those fuel costs have to be passed on to customers. So, fuck off with that coal is cheaper bullshit. Keeping a similar nuclear plant fueled would cost about $9,000/day. Of course, hydropower and geothermal (which can be used for baseload) have no fuel costs. A similar combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant can be fueled for $3,241.72/day.
Hmmm. Good eye. I'm guessing that was an oversight during production. I'd honestly have to look at reference videos and photos taken on site to know for sure.
This is glorious, I been tryin to find out about "how to make your own electricity with water" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Kiyenry Meyharlotte Release - (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my mate got excellent success with it.
? Why do the water vapor towers not have a turbine/generator at the top of them or throughout it? ( having more surface area will increase the amount of water that gets collected at the bottom, it also creates another point of power generation in the same system. Windmills completely depend on outside air, having it in the vapor tower makes it's run at all times and gets extra power output when the wind blows.) Ps. Lol that's really a question I love to learn so plz explain if you can =) and I know I'm horrible at grammar =)
Really appreciate this video. This helped me gain knowledge of power plants so I didn't sound like a complete dummy in my latest video "Going inside of exhaust side of a turbine" Thanks!
Wow!!! This is like the most thrilling video in all of CZcams! Seeing how it has not yet put Hollywood out of business, it is clearly being suppressed.
you can step up as much as you want, the thing that you need to care of is that with higher voltage the electrons can jump further, so you'll need higher electric cables, bigger transformers, bigger circuit breakers, etc... this might not be worth here you can see a 1.1MV transformer capable of transmitting up to 12GW czcams.com/video/0pGH1B863oI/video.html&ab_channel=EngineeringWorld
@@edpvideo They use natural gas or oil ignition torches to ignite the coal-air mix, the torches in turn use spark igniters to get started. They sometimes use the ignition torches at low load to make sure the coal still ignites reliably.
Yes, They use light oil like a diesel fuel to get the boilers started until its heated enough for the coal to be used. Especially if it’s been shut down for service.
I realize it may be hard for some people to grasp, but the steam temperature is indeed 1000 degrees F and 2400 PSI leaving the superheater to the HP turbine and then sent back to the boiler and reheated to 1000 degrees again and 525 PSI going to the intermediate (IP) turbine. Saturated steam such as 400-600 degrees would do great damage to the turbine.
@@maksimmuruev423 Sometimes the steam waste heat is used. Like in New York City's steam heating system. Most of the time though it's easier said than done to figure out a way to efficiently reuse the waste steam heat.
@@maksimmuruev423 What is a green house going to do with 500,000 lbs/hr of steam that is at 2 psia (atmosphere is 14.7 psia)? It is also around 90 F when it enters a condenser. Also need to consider that the condenser is where the vacuum is formed but the collapsing of steam into water. I cant remember the ratio off hand but it is something like 1000:1 in volume. This vacuum helps pull steam through the later stages of the steam turbine and greatly increase the power.
@@maksimmuruev423 You must not have any idea of the magnitude of energy those cooling towers are handling. In NY all the fish in a river were suddenly dying, the investigation found out the water from cooling a coal power plant heated the ENTIRE RIVER enough to kill the fish. Also in Alabama they do not need any more heat for their plants.
Dave George the condenser operates at a vacuum, below atmospheric pressure. This is to extract as much power as possible from the steam before returning it to the boiler.
Because in the wonderful world of Democracy people who have absolutely no Idea on how nuclear power generation works, or the vigorous safety standards in place for nuclear power, get just as much of a say as anyone else. These idiots are the one who go onto pass legislation, and pump out moronic propaganda like "MuH 3 MiLe IsLaNd!!!! Muh ChErNoByL!!!!!!! MuH LitErAlLy A NuClEaR bOmB!!!!!!!" In sort the arrogance and ignorance of the common man is to blame for demonization of Nuclear power.
my opinion is that the combination of the movie "China Syndrome" and the coincidental timing of Three Mile Island'a incident contributed greatly to nuclear's resistance. Since then, now 4 decades later, we've (US) lost thousands of nuclear engineers. In my experience, the cost to develop a new nuclear power plant due to regulations just are not worth it. Even converting coal to natural gas is highly cost prohibitive. Cheapest way today to generate 2 Gigawatts is greenfield combined cycle natural gas. Several are being built close to natural gas source in the midwest.
This is a very good video which explains the entire process involved in producing electricity from coal. Wallboard is a very useful by product of this. It is rather alarming how much coal is needed to keep a power station going.
re: "It is rather alarming how much coal is needed to keep a power station going." Look mate, 2900 Megawatts is a BIG DAMN PLANT too! One of the larger coal plants, and on a par with big nuke plants too!
It may shock you to learn this but water boils at 30c in a vacuum and returns to liquid at 29c the expansion rates are the same no matter how the water boils. This means in a closed system you can run a steam engine off heat from the sun and endothermic from water sources you could even run an air conditioner use the heat to boil water and the cold to return it to liquid.
SHAZAAM! "Build it and they will come." Meanwhile progress on Dr. Mills' SunCell (tm) reactor (uses Hydrogen in a novel way) is going commercial the next year or two ...
"Clean energy" cannot stay near the word "coal"... Anyone can say its energy production system is clean than another, but the real pathways to produce really clean energy are very few, and sure coal is not one of these. I appreciate though the great amount of technology and engineering involved in this kind of plant.
Really? The West County Energy Center in Florida was commissioned in 2009. It is larger than any coal-fired plant in the U.S. at 3,750 megawatts. It burns no coal. Instead, it burns natural gas. Unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant is 96% completed and will be completed soon. It's sister, unit 4 will follow soon after. When all 4 units at Vogtle are running, it will be the most productive power plant in the U.S., producing about 37 Twh of electricity yearly.
You can actually make really light weight construction blocks with them, they are load bearing since they're brittle as all hell but they create effective partitions and is sturdier than wood based building
That was VERY interesting and well explained. Can anybody here explain why the water is cooled with water towers? Why wouldn't you resend the hot water back into the boiler with all that residual heat rather than cooling it first? I got lost there.
The water that is cooled in the tower is not the water that goes back into the boiler. The water going to the boiler is in a closed loop, and must be condensed through the cycle. The other water used to condense the steam gets hot itself, and must be cooled in the cooling tower so that it can go back and condense more steam.
The core concept is 'hot gas makes wind and moves fan'. I believe the steam must first be cooled because it is the difference in temperature than enables the gas to move at all. If you just had hot gas throughout the system, movement would be zero (or at the very least drastically inefficient). If I'm not mistaken, the larger the delta between cold water/hot steam translates into greater efficiency/less losses since the fluid 'wants' to move more as it expands more dramatically. I am no expert on the matter, however, and would gladly be corrected by someone who is better educated on the topic.
Power Engineering student here. The water in the cooling towers is a closed loop and does not directly touch the feed water. It removes the heat from the steam leaving the turbine and condenses that steam back into water. The water used for cooling is of very low quality (chlorinated river water greater than 2000 ppm) whereas the feedwater in the boiler is of very high quality (less than 15-20ppm and with many added chemicals to prevent scaling and fouling of the boiler tubes). The temperature of the water entering the cooling tower is roughly 100-105F and leaves at roughly 85F, it enters the condenser at 85F and leaves at roughly 100-105F. The only purpose for the cooling tower is to cool the closed loop cooling water system. Basically the feedwater and cooling water loops are separate and the water does not mix at all. the cooling water is only used to condense steam in the condenser in order to be able to pump the water (you cant pump steam). an auxiliary cooling water loop is used to cool stuff like lube oil and other equipment that needs water cooling.
I do love any 3D animation videos on industrial processes, so thanks for that, interesting to see. However, call me a treehugger if you will, yet it's difficult to shake the feeling that this is an outdated and dirty method of electrical generation. I'm not saying anything about any other form of generation. I read the comments; I'm not interested in arguing. I'm just saying I highly highly doubt we will be generating electricity with these methods far into the future. I'm glad there are other advances in all fields, including fusion.
Not enough in the presentation in the transmission section. I always assumed 25kv or so from the generator output was put into a step transformer as they said, but wanted to know more, as I'd heard that the high 400kv voltage in the step up transformer went through a spark gap. Then, it goes on a slasher for the 50 or 60 timing. It's transmitted out as a DC pulse, supposedly at high frequency like 55khz, with a 50 or 60 slash. Gerald Morin was explaining in this in his videos. How does a steam turbine maintain the 'exact' 3000 or 3600 rpm to maintain the 50 or 60 hz output? Also, the power generator itself couldn't produce enough power, unless it runs faster, then the power is converted later in the line. I'd like to know more about how the pole transformers work. They receive the 'transmitted' line, no neutral, which is grounded to earth at each end, the live wire terminated in the can itself. Also, burning coal is very inefficient. Peter Davey invented a device that heated water up immediately, just using acoustic resonant sound waves. Also water could be used, by splitting it into hydrogen from oxygen, then using the hydrogen gas to heat the water. The burning temperature of the hydrogen would need to be lowered down, so the gas doesn't burn through anything. It's impossible to transmit.. current over the grid, so the current along with the 120 or 240 50/60hz is done from the pole transformer itself.
Once the generator synchronizes to the grid the frequency of the grid keeps it locked in. These turbines also have governors to maintain the speed. Now the watts are controlled by the turbine once the generator comes on line. Watched generators go on line many times in my career. Always fascinating to watch.
@@edpvideo that's right but we are mostly busy with some pipelines to prefabricate and fit it wherever should it suppose to be. So there is also our job to keep or rebuild the pressure vessels and lot of stuff which it belongs to a power or chemical plants too
A deflector can have several functions. It can be used to redirect the oil, protect a piece of equipment from over lubrication, or maintain a level of lubrication in a certain area or position.
Ahh, so that raises the question: Since you appear to use electricity just to get things moving and grinding before you can boil and generate, how do you boot a place like this up? I mean... if it somehow lost the grid all around, or if it were the only one on a specific grid. Does it have diesel generators to give it its boot-up power for that?
if you had to, you could use force multiplication (gears and lever arms) and use a few humans to crush enough coal for the furnace to fire for 20-40 minuets, which would be enough to restart and accelerate the crushers to operation speeds.
Small plants have diesel back up. Some will use a simple cycle combustion turbine, jet engine, some will use a smaller auxiliary boiler as a small one is easier to get going and use it to start the mains, and others simply go offline and stay that way. Many plants do require cranking power. In the restoration plans a transmission operator will have designated certain plants (or units in a given plant) to be "black start". Meaning they can start with no external power source. They will come up, or designed to remain online through special protection schemes, and they will work to get a power path to the other plants that are able to come up quickly. This is all planned and practice. I have done simulations myself.
Yes, it refers to the effects that happen when energy is created if you burn something you have smoke and ash to deal with nuclear you have waste products and so on. But you can get clean energy Boil water in a vacuum convert the heat energy to kinetic and electrical with a turbine the water will condense after that maintaining the vacuum.
This power plant is literally the largest single point source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Like the entirety of the us Industrial complex, this is the single biggest emitter.
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Why do you have to cool the water. It takes a lot more energy re-heating it from cold, instead of just topping it up with a little heat from the boiler?
Because water expands 1600x when converted from a liquid to a gas (steam). In a contained space that equals 1600x the pressure. It's that pressure increase that moves the turbine blades, not the fact that it is steam. Once that pressure is released/expended into the turbine, it is just steam, not high pressure steam. It must be cooled back into liquid form in order to reduce it back to it's 1600 times smaller liquid form, so that you can reuse the same clean/purified water in the closed loop system. And keep in mind that you're cooling it just enough to liquefy it..
You can't just dump boiling water into the river, it would do greate damage to the plants and animals.. Anyway, the boiler water has additives to prevent corrosion of the pipes and turbines. Can't dump that into the river either. That is why they use a closed loop system and use evaporative cooling.
Actually located in Jefferson county Alabama, adjacent to the town of west Jefferson .Quinton is in Walker county Alabama the post office is located there.
In response to the last message you cant pump steam. I often wondered this apparent loss of energy. But having worked at 1900 mw power plant for many years this is one of the inefficiency's of the process. Attempts have been made to use this heat source to heat green houses etc. The results are not cost effective. This video tells it like it is.
the point of the water is to cool down the steam.so it need ot stay cool. and water is easier to control than steam, so you dont just heat up steam, you heat up water.
The primary water is in a closed system which requires a pressure differential in order to create power.....which means a hot side and a cold side are required, otherwise you have liquid that doesn't want to go anywhere. So the closed system goes through a hot phase (through the boiler) and a cold phase (through a mid-transfer). The cold phase has some energy still left, so it uses that to produce a little bit more energy before the cooling towers finish it off.
@@sabriath They even recycle some of the heat coming out of the stack; a nuclear plant's fuel is so cheap they wouldn't really care, or could since there is no stack. I don't think nuclear plants can reheat low pressure steam, at least for water cooled reactors.
@@leerman22 ... there are many fine details to the system, I just glossed over a few of the key areas. They try to extract as much heat from the loops as they can into the form of electricity, but there is a point where averaging down can no longer happen, and you have to have a higher threshold (otherwise you just have high pressure steam everywhere and no movement).....hence they have to dump a huge amount of excess heat on one side of the block. Even if we were to line the entire tower in stirling engines, you still need a cold side to have the engines work....and that cold side will heat up, so you have to keep it cold.
We have at least 100s of years worth of coal left... then we still have fission and probably solar will get much cheaper and cleaner by then. There is already research going on GMO algae & bacteria that could convert plastics/biomass to usable fuel. We might even get viable nuclear fusion in the next 50-100 years and that would probably solve most of our energy problems.
Very interesting video .... I would like to know the boilers & turbines designers /manufacturers.. Thanks for answering my question. Dan from Paris-France..
Coal power is eco hostile regardless of how hard we try to clean the exhaust but, the engineering is brilliant though. The future is wind, solar, wave, and LFTR. LFTR stands for liquid fluoride thorium reactor.
@@FowlorTheRooster1990 In the long run yes. But the details aren't worth fussing over. All nuclear is so much better than all fossil that any of them is a worthwhile upgrade. Breeder reactors shouldn't be the top priority until we're sure they can operate cheaply and reliably.
What I don't understand is how the power company creates a circuit with single or even 3 phase power. The top wire is the hot wire and then the "nuetral" wire is underneath. The nuetral is never hot unless there's a fault, which then it is connected to ground almost every 5 poles. Then the hot wire runs into your homes transformer, just 1 wire in. Then theres 3 wire service cable that runs to the house, 2 hot wires which are covered and 1 neutral wire which is bare. The nuetral wire is never "hot" and the top end of the transformer the hot wire only runs in, theres no out. Electricity needs a circuit to work, so how does the power company complete there circuit? They call the hot wire the "P"ower wire, and the "N"uetral wire. Your breaker box runs P wire in through the breaker and then the circuit runs back and is connected to ground. The nuetral that's runs in is also connected to ground. But the nuetral is never hot?
in any electricity generator there will always be a starting point and an ending point in a current generating coil, but generators have several coils each around magnetic pole of a generator, they are all connected up to form as though they are one huge coil, acting like a single coil or for 3 phase there will be 3 sets of such coils, the starting and ending wires of each coil , is important as any electricity produced come out from one side of the coil and returns to the other to complete an electron flow circuit, through the load, within this coil being subjected to changing magnetic fields of flux, electricity is produced, one end being the hot end and the other being neutral because one end is connected to the ground and is also called a Neutral because it is at the same potential as ground, therefore the other wire from the coil becomes Hot, so when you have a ground connection on a transformer, it means it is also connected to neutral, so only needs one hot wire coming in, or 3 hot wires coming in for a 3 phase transformer, as the transformer is grounded and has a neutral connected to ground, the transformer Primary windings may only need this one main incoming hot connection as the return path for the current is through Ground and neutral, the secondary windings can have seperate Hot (Live) or Phase connection and a seperate Neutral as well as a seperate ground bare wire, though in principle Ground bare wire is at the same potential as Neutral, so all outgoing low voltage from a transformer are separated entering each house. Those two insulated wires are not both hot, only one is hot and the other is Neutral and is approximately at almost same potential as ground wire, often known as earth wire.
Galen Belden the purpose of the neutral is to carry the unbalanced current from single phase loads in a 4 wire, wye connected system. Balanced loads on a 3 phase 4 wire system are carried on each of the three “hot” phase conductors.
The cooling tower does not produce the vacuum in the condenser. That occurs because there is no air in the steam system. When the steam condenses at low temperature ( around 180 degrees) the resulting pressure is less than atmospheric.
All mechanical moving parts require lubrication. That is usually oil. Some power plants use fuel oil, natural gas, and nuclear fuel instead of coal to produce the steam required to rotate the turbine at the speeds needed to produce electricity. Turbines spin at 1800 or 3600 RPM to create electricity at the proper voltages. Everything is very heavy and a lot of energy must be produced to rotate the turbine string at the necessary speeds. A generator rotor for a 700 MGW unit weighs about 140 US tons. Turbines are less but the string is very large. 1- HP turbine + 1 IP turbine + 2 LP turbines. You are attempting to rotate a piece of equipment that weighsabout 300 tons at 3600 RPM. That requires a lot of push.
@@odongemma4170 Unless you electrify transportation and even find a solution for more effective mining. Today's problems aren't necessarily those of tomorrow.
@@antonellaromero_upc1564 Well 95% of nuclear waste can be recycled and the total amount of heavy toxic nuclear waste dramatically decreased. We also need to compare the volume of waste: the generation of electricity from a typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear power station, which would supply the needs of more than a million people, produces only three cubic meters of vitrified high-level waste per year, if the used fuel is recycled; the volume of CO2 from an equivalent coal power plant is, as you can imagine, significantly higher.
Where I reside, enormous coal trains come into a station that coal fires enormous furnace that boil water into steam. The steam turns lots of turbines that turn enormous alternators. The power is then distributed to station that step down the voltage.
nice one, sure you try to keep a 37 day supply but how many days are guaranteed would be the question, sub-bituminous? how does that compare to anthrocite I wonder
@@GFSwinger1693 but if volume increases as pressure drops, one could also compensate for it by designing low pressure stages to work on higher flow velocities. like, use less angle of attack. However, both in compressors and turbines they seem to design them so that flow velocity stays almost constant, I wonder why's that.
@@GFSwinger1693 just make the steam pipes smaller where the pressure is dropping to force pressure to build. do it the same way they use air in turbine jet engines. suck in larges amounts of air and make it flow through bigger pipes then reduce it into smaller pipes to force more pressure per sq inch creating larger amounts of thrust or in this case more power output. the bigger the input pipe the longer your chain of generators can be or bigger generators to be used.
also at the end of the piping make it collect the water drops that cooled off from steam and reuse it. these coke plants have large ovens that produce tons of heat so why not use peltier generators on the side of them to produce electric from that heat also and the steam pipes themselves
Wow! it takes some 4 Million horsepower to generate 2900 Megawatts....in a perfect world with no losses.
Thank you for maintaining and supervising your emissions systems. Clearly, most of the public has no idea how ''clean'' your plant is as compared to earlier coal fired plants.
In fact, the public has no comprehension of the magnitude of designing, building, and operating a power station such as yours. Electric Power Distribution falls in the realm of magic for most citizens. They complain about environmental impact yet are the first to cry when power gets interrupted by storm, winds, accidents, etc.
I am a retired Field Engineer who started at General Electric Co. installing and maintaining gas turbine generator sets throughout the world. A 70 Megawatt unit is HUGE for me! Great video. I appreciate your work!
I prefer nuclear power, natural gas and liquified petroleum gas.
( Your message) : I prefer nuclear power, natural gas and liquified petroleum gas.
(My message) : You just use natural gas 10% to be input, and my tech will amplify (boost) natural gas to become natural gas 90% for generate the massive electricity.
There is a ton of misinformation in the comments regarding alternative energy sources. So, just to be clear;
1) All conventional thermal power plants operate exactly the same way. The only variable is the source of the heat: nuclear fission, combusted fuel, concentrated solar radiation, etc. Every single one uses the same turbine, heat exchanger, induction generator, heat removal fluid (a water mixture).
2) The reason we don't just switch to all solar and wind generation is because there is no good way to store energy. We don't use the same amount of power throughout the day; there is a huge spike in demand in the afternoon through late evening, and very little usage at night. This is called demand response: the grid must be able to quickly adapt to large surges in energy demand within minutes. Most renewables (save for hydroelectric damming) just don't have that level of flexibility. If the sun isn't shining, your photovoltaics aren't on. Thermal plants have been time tested to be able to respond to these fluctuations.
3) As some have pointed out, there is some type of balance to strike between electricity sources. Supplementing traditional thermal plants with alternatives is the only realistic way to meet our modern energy demands. That is, unless we can find a way to store excess energy produced in low demand periods (this is particularly important for wind).
4) Moreover, the small scale cost of solar panels and wind turbines is very appealing but the scaled cost of operation ($/MWh) is laughably outrageous compared to a nuclear or coal-fired thermal plant due to the energy availability factor (EAF) alone.
TL;DR
In sum, coal plants won't be gone any time soon, and there is no silver bullet "just use x" solution at this time, primarily due to the lack of proper energy storage and redistribution technologies.
I won't deny that solar and wind are extremely expensive in comparison, but to say we don't have any good way to store electricity from alternative sources just isn't true. We've been doing pumped energy storage since the late 1800s, it's very reliable, fast in response and with very little loss. While pumped storage won't work smack dab in the middle of the Great Plains or something, modern power distribution means you can build it pretty far away from where you'll be needing the power. Also, the advances made in the field of flywheel energy storage makes it so storage facilities can be (and have been) built with a realistically reasonable budget. They'll lose some power over time, but it won't be an appreciable amount between the moment the excess power is stored and the time it is needed to meet peak grid demands.
You can store solar heat in water at high efficiency and low cost and extract that energy using a closed vacuum steam turbine and condenser system with degassed water.
Didn’t say anything about nuclear.
This comment deserves more upvotes.
@@Barskor1 re: "You can store solar heat in water at high efficiency and low cost and"
SOUNDS like a great business model ... WHY aren't MORE ppl doing it? Oh? NOT such a great idea after all, eh?
Your 3D designer is amazing! Nice work un-named designer.
Our team is the best. Thanks!
Very, very interesting. Very clever process! We take electricity for granted but it's a major undertaking at each step. Impressive indeed!
People are always fascinated (as was I) at the amount of coal used every day at one plant. What isn't reflected in this animation is the massive energy demand we have that has created this coal gobbling industry. We make a ton of electricity because we use a ton of it.
Instablaster
I've been in the power generation industry for 30-years, and this is the best overview of coal-fired power generation that I've seen. It's very well done. I follow-up with one for natural gas fired, combined cycle, which has twice the efficiency, would be a great addition. But I'm sure something like this is very expensive to produce. Keep up the good work.
In Helsinki /Finland at Vuosaari power plant we have such a combined gas turbine + steam turbine system producing electricity + heat. The el. efficiency is 60 % and still it gives much heat for heating buildings. Bio gas of organic wastes is used in a combined diesel motor + orc-turbine giving el. + heat energy.
I've been in a similar but older power station. This video is spot on, as far as it goes.
Yep, pretty much reflects the real plant I walked through in preparing this video. Thanks for the comment.
Never knew that there was SO much involved in producing clean output! I'd be curious to know what percentage they clean up the exhaust.
I’m attending ysu in Ohio for their electrical utility technology (power plant) associates degree and found this very helpful. Thank you!
Cheers for this, I have been researching "generating green electricity" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Diyadison Penhloe Blaster - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? It is a great one off guide for generating your own electricity minus the headache. Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my friend got amazing success with it.
That's awesome!
Good luck with your career.
AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO, I HAVE COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT I HAVE CONTRIBUTED NOTHING TO THIS WORLD..... THANKS A LOT.....
Come on, there was this message you posted, so that's something
@@edpvideo I ROCK !
Every part of the power plant is important for the power it provides, just pick something/anything to be apart of the big picture we call life
CO2
Where you work lol 😂
Interesting video of a highly efficient plant, I have seen the cooling towers many times from the Interstate.
I know the fly ask can be used for cement but what can the bottom ask be used for? Saw a video about a Canadian coal fired plant where the bottom ask didn't seem to have any use? Anyone know what bottom ask can be used for?
Some folks who live out in the country like to use bottom ash on their driveway. It's a lot better than mud when it rains.
So much was left out. You cannot just use chlorinated river water for the steam. Those turbine blades would be destroyed in no time. That water needs to be clean and pure for when it’s turned into dry superheated steam. Those turbines run with steam at 3000lbs of pressure at 1005°F. So much more into it then what was said here.
Thanks for the comment. Since this is a general overview video, not a tutorial on how to operate a power plant, so there’s obviously many details that couldn’t be included. But your comment does bring up good additional information. I appreciate you adding that.
@@edpvideo I get that, but even for the “simple” explanation I personally would have added something simple like “use river water that is then purified “ and go from there. It was a decent explanation though.
i know the fly ash is used for cement manufacturing, anyone know if there's any use for the bottom ash?
I think it's been used in road construction as a layer in roadbed. Probably some other similar use cases as well.
Not mentioned: the arsenic, mercury, cadmium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other materials released into the atmosphere that cannot be easily or economically dealt with.
It looks like only 1% of world mercury contamination is from coal. So please be honest that you want to double electricity costs for the poorest countries to have a negligible reduction in mercury. czcams.com/video/CHkVBi_B1Yc/video.html
Yes ,third world countries are the most polluted,,and as far as mercury ,its in everything we drink & eat,& arsenic in all produce, (orange juice),,remember germ X,removed from schools ?,,arsenic in it.."" ,also dishwashing liquid,arsenic "".rinse your produce & your dishes, they say!,,,lol,WHY IS asbestos and alumian in baby powder ??for God knows how long ?,,now,""micro plastic is in our bodies ,,food ,animals ,fish,water,.,etc."sheet rock made from poison produced by "clean coal!-,lol., that will keep your family safe!--,That's why they stopped delivering coal to residential homes for heating back in the 40,s,, killing their customers. Bears in Alaska have Micro Plastic from eating salmon.Google it!-♡,37years studying evolving Toxins turn into living bacteria known as Toxic Mold.jus sayinn!☆saying!"" Ask me about CHEM TRAILS ", Big Corporations will poison your children for a nickel.Thank God I have a motorcycle to ride !-♡,lol.PEACE OUT Teeeee!
Carbon monoxide is already dealt with. It is emmitted at levels that are "below detectable limits". They will use CO catalysts that reduce it to basically 0.
@NathansHVAC For fuck sake, Miller burns ~30,000 tons of coal daily. At $50/ton, that would be $1,500,000/day. Those fuel costs have to be passed on to customers. So, fuck off with that coal is cheaper bullshit. Keeping a similar nuclear plant fueled would cost about $9,000/day. Of course, hydropower and geothermal (which can be used for baseload) have no fuel costs. A similar combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant can be fueled for $3,241.72/day.
A truly amazing CGI job.
I had to look twice to confirm the opening aerial view was not a drone shot.
Thanks Bill - that's the goal on these so I'm glad we made you do a double-take.
It is a very good clip for basic information.Plz make the video with every part so details that anyone can understand without help of plant engineer
So do they really have Canadian pacific (cp) trains hauling coal down in Alabama? or is that just the animation? tia
Hmmm. Good eye. I'm guessing that was an oversight during production. I'd honestly have to look at reference videos and photos taken on site to know for sure.
Thanks for the well-made educational video. I was told years ago that the coal coming out of a pulverizer is like flour. Close enough.
This is glorious, I been tryin to find out about "how to make your own electricity with water" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Kiyenry Meyharlotte Release - (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my mate got excellent success with it.
Yeah, pretty close.
? Why do the water vapor towers not have a turbine/generator at the top of them or throughout it? ( having more surface area will increase the amount of water that gets collected at the bottom, it also creates another point of power generation in the same system. Windmills completely depend on outside air, having it in the vapor tower makes it's run at all times and gets extra power output when the wind blows.) Ps. Lol that's really a question I love to learn so plz explain if you can =) and I know I'm horrible at grammar =)
Devin Johnson The steam will have to be pressurized, but with all that steam I’m pretty sure it’s possible.
@Devin Johnson - I hope someone chimes in, I'm curious about this too
Thanks for the informative plant tour. I'd like to know what software is used to create this nice animation?
3D Studio Max - and thanks!
Really appreciate this video. This helped me gain knowledge of power plants so I didn't sound like a complete dummy in my latest video "Going inside of exhaust side of a turbine" Thanks!
Glad it helped!
Great presentation, very informative.
Thanks for your video. I will use the video in my Thermodynamic class.
Wow!!! This is like the most thrilling video in all of CZcams! Seeing how it has not yet put Hollywood out of business, it is clearly being suppressed.
I know, right? Thanks for bringing it into the light. Now hopefully more people will discover it.
Is the limit of stepping up only 20 times ? Is it possible to steeping up more than 20 times by step up transformers ? Or it is limited ?
you can step up as much as you want, the thing that you need to care of is that with higher voltage the electrons can jump further, so you'll need higher electric cables, bigger transformers, bigger circuit breakers, etc... this might not be worth
here you can see a 1.1MV transformer capable of transmitting up to 12GW czcams.com/video/0pGH1B863oI/video.html&ab_channel=EngineeringWorld
I'm a retired union Boilermaker loved working at plant miller my last job lots of fun and MONEY LOL
Mmmm
Top notch video and a perfect explanation.
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know.
Plz tell me, Turbine in refinery is the same it or not, bro.
Thank you so much.
Do they use light oil to ignite the coal when putting a coal mill in service to the boiler ???
I believe they use temporary generators to put a plant into service. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
@@edpvideo
They use natural gas or oil ignition torches to ignite the coal-air mix, the torches in turn use spark igniters to get started. They sometimes use the ignition torches at low load to make sure the coal still ignites reliably.
@@gregorymalchuk272 Thanks for clearing this up.
Yes, They use light oil like a diesel fuel to get the boilers started until its heated enough for the coal to be used. Especially if it’s been shut down for service.
I had no idea gypsum was a byproduct of electric plants.
Very good video with kind intention to educate people ! Thanks for sharing ! Looking forward for more of these high quality video ! Thanks !
Thanks, we are looking forward to making more :-)
I realize it may be hard for some people to grasp, but the steam temperature is indeed 1000 degrees F and 2400 PSI leaving the superheater to the HP turbine and then sent back to the boiler and reheated to 1000 degrees again and 525 PSI going to the intermediate (IP) turbine. Saturated steam such as 400-600 degrees would do great damage to the turbine.
Why nobody try to put in better use heat instead of those Coling towers. .. maybe greenhouses...
@@maksimmuruev423
Sometimes the steam waste heat is used. Like in New York City's steam heating system. Most of the time though it's easier said than done to figure out a way to efficiently reuse the waste steam heat.
@@maksimmuruev423 What is a green house going to do with 500,000 lbs/hr of steam that is at 2 psia (atmosphere is 14.7 psia)? It is also around 90 F when it enters a condenser. Also need to consider that the condenser is where the vacuum is formed but the collapsing of steam into water. I cant remember the ratio off hand but it is something like 1000:1 in volume. This vacuum helps pull steam through the later stages of the steam turbine and greatly increase the power.
@@maksimmuruev423 You must not have any idea of the magnitude of energy those cooling towers are handling. In NY all the fish in a river were suddenly dying, the investigation found out the water from cooling a coal power plant heated the ENTIRE RIVER enough to kill the fish. Also in Alabama they do not need any more heat for their plants.
What is the lowest PSI in the boiler loop?
Dave George the condenser operates at a vacuum, below atmospheric pressure. This is to extract as much power as possible from the steam before returning it to the boiler.
@Bill Moran - thanks for clarifying
Oh, interesting! I didn't know these places doubled as the first stage of wallboard manufacturing!
They also produce the main ingredient for cement.
Ha, cool, @@matkurcher9469! What's that main ingredient?
Fly ash from the precip.
@@matkurcher9469: Oh, I see, cool. Thanks.
After watching this I cannot fathom why nuclear energy is frowned upon.
Because in the wonderful world of Democracy people who have absolutely no Idea on how nuclear power generation works, or the vigorous safety standards in place for nuclear power, get just as much of a say as anyone else. These idiots are the one who go onto pass legislation, and pump out moronic propaganda like "MuH 3 MiLe IsLaNd!!!! Muh ChErNoByL!!!!!!! MuH LitErAlLy A NuClEaR bOmB!!!!!!!" In sort the arrogance and ignorance of the common man is to blame for demonization of Nuclear power.
@@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN Well said! I literally clapped for you.
@@Jemalacane0 Danke Schön! ~ ^_^
my opinion is that the combination of the movie "China Syndrome" and the coincidental timing of Three Mile Island'a incident contributed greatly to nuclear's resistance. Since then, now 4 decades later, we've (US) lost thousands of nuclear engineers. In my experience, the cost to develop a new nuclear power plant due to regulations just are not worth it. Even converting coal to natural gas is highly cost prohibitive. Cheapest way today to generate 2 Gigawatts is greenfield combined cycle natural gas. Several are being built close to natural gas source in the midwest.
Hello folks what floor?
Good video , may I know which company ?
This is a very good video which explains the entire process involved in producing electricity from coal. Wallboard is a very useful by product of this. It is rather alarming how much coal is needed to keep a power station going.
The amount of coal used is astonishing for sure.
re: "It is rather alarming how much coal is needed to keep a power station going."
Look mate, 2900 Megawatts is a BIG DAMN PLANT too! One of the larger coal plants, and on a par with big nuke plants too!
11pm and here i am watching how energy is made
It may shock you to learn this but water boils at 30c in a vacuum and returns to liquid at 29c the expansion rates are the same no matter how the water boils. This means in a closed system you can run a steam engine off heat from the sun and endothermic from water sources you could even run an air conditioner use the heat to boil water and the cold to return it to liquid.
SHAZAAM! "Build it and they will come."
Meanwhile progress on Dr. Mills' SunCell (tm) reactor (uses Hydrogen in a novel way) is going commercial the next year or two ...
thank you so much for this video. Very educational. I am new to the industry. Love this tour. Thanks
Great! Thanks for leaving a comment. Glad to hear you found it useful.
"Clean energy" cannot stay near the word "coal"... Anyone can say its energy production system is clean than another, but the real pathways to produce really clean energy are very few, and sure coal is not one of these. I appreciate though the great amount of technology and engineering involved in this kind of plant.
Really? The West County Energy Center in Florida was commissioned in 2009. It is larger than any coal-fired plant in the U.S. at 3,750 megawatts. It burns no coal. Instead, it burns natural gas. Unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant is 96% completed and will be completed soon. It's sister, unit 4 will follow soon after. When all 4 units at Vogtle are running, it will be the most productive power plant in the U.S., producing about 37 Twh of electricity yearly.
That's the Industrial Revolution, and continuing momentum. Things are always changing and adapting.
Was in the navy. Turns out I did this job already lol
Good to know the concepts and method is pretty much 1 to 1. Minus the ship
what is the ash sold for i really would like to know that please??????
here in Australia, ash is sold to make cement (It's only part of the ingredients to make cement) and it's also used as road-base.
You can actually make really light weight construction blocks with them, they are load bearing since they're brittle as all hell but they create effective partitions and is sturdier than wood based building
Gypsum
thanks bro!
Jamie
The calcium sulfate from the sulfur treatment is used as gypsum. The fly ash and coal ash are used in cinder blocks.
That was VERY interesting and well explained. Can anybody here explain why the water is cooled with water towers? Why wouldn't you resend the hot water back into the boiler with all that residual heat rather than cooling it first? I got lost there.
Not sure, maybe someone who knows can jump in with some answers.
In order to generate steam, it first must be a liquid.
The water that is cooled in the tower is not the water that goes back into the boiler. The water going to the boiler is in a closed loop, and must be condensed through the cycle. The other water used to condense the steam gets hot itself, and must be cooled in the cooling tower so that it can go back and condense more steam.
The core concept is 'hot gas makes wind and moves fan'. I believe the steam must first be cooled because it is the difference in temperature than enables the gas to move at all. If you just had hot gas throughout the system, movement would be zero (or at the very least drastically inefficient). If I'm not mistaken, the larger the delta between cold water/hot steam translates into greater efficiency/less losses since the fluid 'wants' to move more as it expands more dramatically.
I am no expert on the matter, however, and would gladly be corrected by someone who is better educated on the topic.
Power Engineering student here. The water in the cooling towers is a closed loop and does not directly touch the feed water. It removes the heat from the steam leaving the turbine and condenses that steam back into water. The water used for cooling is of very low quality (chlorinated river water greater than 2000 ppm) whereas the feedwater in the boiler is of very high quality (less than 15-20ppm and with many added chemicals to prevent scaling and fouling of the boiler tubes). The temperature of the water entering the cooling tower is roughly 100-105F and leaves at roughly 85F, it enters the condenser at 85F and leaves at roughly 100-105F. The only purpose for the cooling tower is to cool the closed loop cooling water system.
Basically the feedwater and cooling water loops are separate and the water does not mix at all. the cooling water is only used to condense steam in the condenser in order to be able to pump the water (you cant pump steam). an auxiliary cooling water loop is used to cool stuff like lube oil and other equipment that needs water cooling.
I do love any 3D animation videos on industrial processes, so thanks for that, interesting to see.
However, call me a treehugger if you will, yet it's difficult to shake the feeling that this is an outdated and dirty method of electrical generation.
I'm not saying anything about any other form of generation. I read the comments; I'm not interested in arguing.
I'm just saying I highly highly doubt we will be generating electricity with these methods far into the future.
I'm glad there are other advances in all fields, including fusion.
I mean, the steam generator was the first ever type of generator so yeah, kinda outdated. I believe it still hasn’t reached its full potential
Not enough in the presentation in the transmission section. I always assumed 25kv or so from the generator output was put into a step transformer as they said, but wanted to know more, as I'd heard that the high 400kv voltage in the step up transformer went through a spark gap. Then, it goes on a slasher for the 50 or 60 timing. It's transmitted out as a DC pulse, supposedly at high frequency like 55khz, with a 50 or 60 slash. Gerald Morin was explaining in this in his videos. How does a steam turbine maintain the 'exact' 3000 or 3600 rpm to maintain the 50 or 60 hz output? Also, the power generator itself couldn't produce enough power, unless it runs faster, then the power is converted later in the line. I'd like to know more about how the pole transformers work. They receive the 'transmitted' line, no neutral, which is grounded to earth at each end, the live wire terminated in the can itself. Also, burning coal is very inefficient. Peter Davey invented a device that heated water up immediately, just using acoustic resonant sound waves. Also water could be used, by splitting it into hydrogen from oxygen, then using the hydrogen gas to heat the water. The burning temperature of the hydrogen would need to be lowered down, so the gas doesn't burn through anything. It's impossible to transmit.. current over the grid, so the current along with the 120 or 240 50/60hz is done from the pole transformer itself.
Thanks for the detailed comments. Wish we could have gone into that level of detail, but it was just an overview.
Once the generator synchronizes to the grid the frequency of the grid keeps it locked in. These turbines also have governors to maintain the speed. Now the watts are controlled by the turbine once the generator comes on line. Watched generators go on line many times in my career. Always fascinating to watch.
Say ahhh there "A", you kinda wrote a 'book' on us there ... look for a video on "power transmission" first and then "power distribution" next.
SCR? So they're using a system similar to a diesel exhaust fluid system then more or less?
Both systems are designed to remove NOX. In a nutshell yes, the same general idea.
I'm doing a lot of maintenance on some power plants in Europe and must say it's not like a job for everyone
How so?
@@edpvideo that's right but we are mostly busy with some pipelines to prefabricate and fit it wherever should it suppose to be. So there is also our job to keep or rebuild the pressure vessels and lot of stuff which it belongs to a power or chemical plants too
Great presentation, very informative.
Thanks!
what software did you use to make this video
+Carolyn Christy 3D Studio MAX (mainly)
did you use 3d studio max for the machine illustration? it is very well done!!
Carolyn Christy Yes, actually, all the animation was done in MAX and then composited in After Effects and finally edited in Final Cut Pro X.
NICE 3D PRESENTATION...
Sir what is function of oil deflector???
I don't know, but maybe someone will jump in and comment.
A deflector can have several functions. It can be used to redirect the oil, protect a piece of equipment from over lubrication, or maintain a level of lubrication in a certain area or position.
One of the best videos on power generation that I have seen. Thanks!
Thanks!
this is a very well put together video!
Ahh, so that raises the question: Since you appear to use electricity just to get things moving and grinding before you can boil and generate, how do you boot a place like this up? I mean... if it somehow lost the grid all around, or if it were the only one on a specific grid. Does it have diesel generators to give it its boot-up power for that?
if you had to, you could use force multiplication (gears and lever arms) and use a few humans to crush enough coal for the furnace to fire for 20-40 minuets, which would be enough to restart and accelerate the crushers to operation speeds.
In some power stations, gas turbines similar to a jet engine but designed for power generation may be used.
Small plants have diesel back up. Some will use a simple cycle combustion turbine, jet engine, some will use a smaller auxiliary boiler as a small one is easier to get going and use it to start the mains, and others simply go offline and stay that way. Many plants do require cranking power. In the restoration plans a transmission operator will have designated certain plants (or units in a given plant) to be "black start". Meaning they can start with no external power source. They will come up, or designed to remain online through special protection schemes, and they will work to get a power path to the other plants that are able to come up quickly. This is all planned and practice. I have done simulations myself.
This is what's referred to as a "base load" power generation plant. It runs 24-7-365. Only portions of this plant are shut down for maintenance.
I would have liked to have seen something about the DC power that is fed into the generator rotors, but it's beyond the scope of this video.
Sweet home Alabama
(I'm not from Alabmana)
did the guy just say clean energy?
Yes, it refers to the effects that happen when energy is created if you burn something you have smoke and ash to deal with nuclear you have waste products and so on.
But you can get clean energy Boil water in a vacuum convert the heat energy to kinetic and electrical with a turbine the water will condense after that maintaining the vacuum.
Thank you for the excellent demonstration of power plant. Indeed the virtual tour was great
Thanks
Reminds me of the Jurassic Park DNA scene. Love the voice-over.
Thanks for your video, it's an amazing animation
This power plant is literally the largest single point source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Like the entirety of the us Industrial complex, this is the single biggest emitter.
And it is contained in a single location. I promise you the EPA knows where it is. Now the millions of cars on the other hand....
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Electricity is not the clean energy people are fooled into believing it is. Almost all of it is made from coal fired boilers, that turn turbines, that turn alternators and generators. I will stick to conventional vehicles. They have a much higher range per energy unit, thus, pollute less per energy unit for work done. The lithium mines are real planet killers also. Nothing grows there.
Thanks for the video, concise, yet covered a lot of basics. Well done!
Why do you have to cool the water. It takes a lot more energy re-heating it from cold, instead of just topping it up with a little heat from the boiler?
Because water expands 1600x when converted from a liquid to a gas (steam). In a contained space that equals 1600x the pressure. It's that pressure increase that moves the turbine blades, not the fact that it is steam. Once that pressure is released/expended into the turbine, it is just steam, not high pressure steam. It must be cooled back into liquid form in order to reduce it back to it's 1600 times smaller liquid form, so that you can reuse the same clean/purified water in the closed loop system. And keep in mind that you're cooling it just enough to liquefy it..
@@MatHelm The pressure increase doesn't come form phase transition. It is set by the pump that compresses saturated water coming from the condenser.
You can't just dump boiling water into the river, it would do greate damage to the plants and animals.. Anyway, the boiler water has additives to prevent corrosion of the pipes and turbines. Can't dump that into the river either. That is why they use a closed loop system and use evaporative cooling.
Holy freaking switch yard...
Excellent, presentation...!!!😎
Thanks Michael. Please share the link on your social media
Actually located in Jefferson county Alabama, adjacent to the town of west Jefferson .Quinton is in Walker county Alabama the post office is located there.
A lot of places on the walker jefferson line have a Quinton address, this is one of them
What is the difference between lube oil and control oil??
I don't know, but maybe someone will jump in and comment.
Lube oil is circulated to lubricate mechanical components such as bearings. Control oil is used to actuate hydraulic components.
They use same oil in reservoir but different in function
In response to the last message you cant pump steam. I often wondered this apparent loss of energy. But having worked at 1900 mw power plant for many years this is one of the inefficiency's of the process. Attempts have been made to use this heat source to heat green houses etc. The results are not cost effective. This video tells it like it is.
Thanks for the comment
Actually, district heating is very common in heavily populated areas. So, maybe it is cost effective.
I am very grateful for this kind of scientific report
Glad you liked it. Thanks
Why do you cool the water if you are going to heat it again?
the point of the water is to cool down the steam.so it need ot stay cool. and water is easier to control than steam, so you dont just heat up steam, you heat up water.
The primary water is in a closed system which requires a pressure differential in order to create power.....which means a hot side and a cold side are required, otherwise you have liquid that doesn't want to go anywhere. So the closed system goes through a hot phase (through the boiler) and a cold phase (through a mid-transfer). The cold phase has some energy still left, so it uses that to produce a little bit more energy before the cooling towers finish it off.
@@sabriath They even recycle some of the heat coming out of the stack; a nuclear plant's fuel is so cheap they wouldn't really care, or could since there is no stack. I don't think nuclear plants can reheat low pressure steam, at least for water cooled reactors.
@@leerman22 ... there are many fine details to the system, I just glossed over a few of the key areas. They try to extract as much heat from the loops as they can into the form of electricity, but there is a point where averaging down can no longer happen, and you have to have a higher threshold (otherwise you just have high pressure steam everywhere and no movement).....hence they have to dump a huge amount of excess heat on one side of the block. Even if we were to line the entire tower in stirling engines, you still need a cold side to have the engines work....and that cold side will heat up, so you have to keep it cold.
What are you going to do once the finite resource of coal is depleted?
Burn Soylent Green.
We have at least 100s of years worth of coal left... then we still have fission and probably solar will get much cheaper and cleaner by then. There is already research going on GMO algae & bacteria that could convert plastics/biomass to usable fuel. We might even get viable nuclear fusion in the next 50-100 years and that would probably solve most of our energy problems.
@@totel9193 With the way people already freak out about nuclear fission, I can't imagine their reaction to fusion.
Love everything about this video but the coal.
Thanks Andrew
Did you have BDS too? Yoiu know, before Obama.
Thankyou sir awesome video
Thanks so much for the comment!
Very interesting video ....
I would like to know the boilers & turbines designers /manufacturers..
Thanks for answering my question.
Dan from Paris-France..
Mitsubishi maybe? I'm not sure
@@edpvideo boilers maybe Babcock & Wilcox..?
steam turbines + alternators : GE Power , ABB ...or others..
Dan
Watching this as i study for my GPO 2.0 test.. very nice
Coal power is eco hostile regardless of how hard we try to clean the exhaust but, the engineering is brilliant though. The future is wind, solar, wave, and LFTR. LFTR stands for liquid fluoride thorium reactor.
Tell us more about LFTR - that's news to me
@@edpvideo Any nuclear is the future. LFTR is just one (very speculative) option.
I coudln't agree more. Also, why are we still using dirty coal?
Use reactors that contain recycled nuclear fuel and breeder reactors that use U-238 as well
@@FowlorTheRooster1990 In the long run yes. But the details aren't worth fussing over. All nuclear is so much better than all fossil that any of them is a worthwhile upgrade.
Breeder reactors shouldn't be the top priority until we're sure they can operate cheaply and reliably.
Wow. Pretty complex.
What I don't understand is how the power company creates a circuit with single or even 3 phase power. The top wire is the hot wire and then the "nuetral" wire is underneath. The nuetral is never hot unless there's a fault, which then it is connected to ground almost every 5 poles. Then the hot wire runs into your homes transformer, just 1 wire in. Then theres 3 wire service cable that runs to the house, 2 hot wires which are covered and 1 neutral wire which is bare. The nuetral wire is never "hot" and the top end of the transformer the hot wire only runs in, theres no out. Electricity needs a circuit to work, so how does the power company complete there circuit? They call the hot wire the "P"ower wire, and the "N"uetral wire. Your breaker box runs P wire in through the breaker and then the circuit runs back and is connected to ground. The nuetral that's runs in is also connected to ground. But the nuetral is never hot?
in any electricity generator there will always be a starting point and an ending point in a current generating coil, but generators have several coils each around magnetic pole of a generator, they are all connected up to form as though they are one huge coil, acting like a single coil or for 3 phase there will be 3 sets of such coils, the starting and ending wires of each coil , is important as any electricity produced come out from one side of the coil and returns to the other to complete an electron flow circuit, through the load, within this coil being subjected to changing magnetic fields of flux, electricity is produced, one end being the hot end and the other being neutral because one end is connected to the ground and is also called a Neutral because it is at the same potential as ground, therefore the other wire from the coil becomes Hot, so when you have a ground connection on a transformer, it means it is also connected to neutral, so only needs one hot wire coming in, or 3 hot wires coming in for a 3 phase transformer, as the transformer is grounded and has a neutral connected to ground, the transformer Primary windings may only need this one main incoming hot connection as the return path for the current is through Ground and neutral, the secondary windings can have seperate Hot (Live) or Phase connection and a seperate Neutral as well as a seperate ground bare wire, though in principle Ground bare wire is at the same potential as Neutral, so all outgoing low voltage from a transformer are separated entering each house. Those two insulated wires are not both hot, only one is hot and the other is Neutral and is approximately at almost same potential as ground wire, often known as earth wire.
Galen Belden the purpose of the neutral is to carry the unbalanced current from single phase loads in a 4 wire, wye connected system.
Balanced loads on a 3 phase 4 wire system are carried on each of the three “hot” phase conductors.
You didn't explain that the cooling tower water pulls a vacuum on the stm condenser which increases the efficiency of the stm turbine!
I'm sure there are a lot of details we left out. It is a short overview.
The cooling tower does not produce the vacuum in the condenser. That occurs because there is no air in the steam system. When the steam condenses at low temperature ( around 180 degrees) the resulting pressure is less than atmospheric.
Is it already closed?
I AM GOING TO BE WORKING THERE SOON! MY FAMILY HAS BEEN WORKING FOR GORGUS AND MILLER FOR 60+ YEARS!
Good luck 👍
Sir any 5 reasons why turbine used oil ?????
All mechanical moving parts require lubrication. That is usually oil. Some power plants use fuel oil, natural gas, and nuclear fuel instead of coal to produce the steam required to rotate the turbine at the speeds needed to produce electricity. Turbines spin at 1800 or 3600 RPM to create electricity at the proper voltages. Everything is very heavy and a lot of energy must be produced to rotate the turbine string at the necessary speeds. A generator rotor for a 700 MGW unit weighs about 140 US tons. Turbines are less but the string is very large. 1- HP turbine + 1 IP turbine + 2 LP turbines. You are attempting to rotate a piece of equipment that weighsabout 300 tons at 3600 RPM. That requires a lot of push.
DRAX in the UK, 3.6GW HAHA, but your video is far better . Nice to see, thanks.
Scherer in Georgia is 3.6 Gwe. Parish in Texas is 3.65 Gwe.
Ethiopia has an 8 GW hydro facility....
@@andrewt.5567 Hydropower is awesome.
Very well done! Thanks for the video!
Thanks Joseph!
We need to replace all coal plants with nuclear. Nuclear can do the same baseload job without any CO2 or particulate emissions.
Combustion engines use for mining and transporting uranium emits greenhouse gases
We can't avoid CO2 completely
but then where are we gonna get drywall??
Easy to say, but the residues of nuclear can be equally or more dangerous than the CO2.
@@odongemma4170 Unless you electrify transportation and even find a solution for more effective mining. Today's problems aren't necessarily those of tomorrow.
@@antonellaromero_upc1564 Well 95% of nuclear waste can be recycled and the total amount of heavy toxic nuclear waste dramatically decreased. We also need to compare the volume of waste: the generation of electricity from a typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear power station, which would supply the needs of more than a million people, produces only three cubic meters of vitrified high-level waste per year, if the used fuel is recycled; the volume of CO2 from an equivalent coal power plant is, as you can imagine, significantly higher.
Good informative video though you have mentioned the temperature is 1000 degree in fact it can't exceed 550 c .
Its a video about a US powerplant, 1000 degrees in freedom units is about 537°c
I can see those cooling towers from my backyard, about 5 miles away.
Sweet Powerplant Alabama
awesome video, great description of the process. obviously a huge amount of engineering went into this.
Where I reside, enormous coal trains come into a station that coal fires enormous furnace that boil water into steam. The steam turns lots of turbines that turn enormous alternators. The power is then distributed to station that step down the voltage.
Really? Kinda exactly like in this video then right?
@@flaplaya A lot like the video except I live in a cold climate. Birds love to live close to the steam stacks to keep warm.
@@flaplaya A lot like the video except I live in a cold climate. Birds love to live close to the steam stacks to keep warm.
@@flaplaya A lot like the video except I live in a cold climate. Birds love to live close to the steam stacks to keep warm.
nice one, sure you try to keep a 37 day supply but how many days are guaranteed would be the question, sub-bituminous? how does that compare to anthrocite I wonder
this is incredible. makes you really appreciate the people who keep our country running.
Right. We use so much of it that it's mind boggling.
I have to take a test in my school, I need to know *EVERYTHING* in this video.. such as how it function etc.. yeah big oof
As an overview, it really is a simple concept. Hope this video gave you a good introduction to what goes on in a power plant.
You have to teach your students how to eliminate such CO2 emitting monsters if they want to live on this planet....!!!!!
Why does high pressure turbine look so different from low pressure turbine if they operate on the same principles?
As pressure decreases volume increases. High pressure turbines hence are smaller while low pressure are larger.
@@GFSwinger1693 but if volume increases as pressure drops, one could also compensate for it by designing low pressure stages to work on higher flow velocities. like, use less angle of attack. However, both in compressors and turbines they seem to design them so that flow velocity stays almost constant, I wonder why's that.
@@GFSwinger1693 THAT'S RIGHT,VOLTS GO DOWN ,AMPS GO UP.
@@GFSwinger1693 just make the steam pipes smaller where the pressure is dropping to force pressure to build. do it the same way they use air in turbine jet engines. suck in larges amounts of air and make it flow through bigger pipes then reduce it into smaller pipes to force more pressure per sq inch creating larger amounts of thrust or in this case more power output. the bigger the input pipe the longer your chain of generators can be or bigger generators to be used.
also at the end of the piping make it collect the water drops that cooled off from steam and reuse it. these coke plants have large ovens that produce tons of heat so why not use peltier generators on the side of them to produce electric from that heat also and the steam pipes themselves
Same thing that works at the calaveras power plant
But different shape
Excellent animation
Thanks Prakash!
Better understanding 👍
Cool, thanks
You can thanks these guys for getting you cheap gypsum for your homes
wowwwwwww... the beauty of power !!