What Are the Types of Power Plants that Generate Electricity?
Power plants can be grouped into the types of fuel or energy source they use to produce electricity. These include fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, or a refined oil product), nuclear energy, and renewable energy sources such as water (hydroelectric power), biomass, waste-to-energy, geothermal, wind, and solar energy, as well as alternative fuels. Figure 2 shows the relative share of electricity generation by fuel/energy type. One of the features of electricity is that your television and stereo, heating system, air conditioning system, appliances and light fixtures cannot tell the difference between the types of generation, location, or fuel sources. This makes all the electricity on the system usable by all those connected to the grid. Figure 2. U.S. Electric Power Industry Net Generation, 2003 Source: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-906, Power Plant Report and EIA 920, Combined Heat and Power Plant Report. What Determines the Price of Your Electricity? A major component o
