Electrical power plays significant role in a development of industry and agriculture with the growing demand of elecric power and diminnishing of fossile fuel it has important to generate power more efficiently. This course therefore details of electrical power generation using thermal, hydro and nuclear.

These types of power plants need highly skilled technician who are capable of operating various equipment to supply uninterpreted power. This course attemps to develops basic generating skills requied to take appropriate decision to maintain various generating stations and auxillary equipment of power plant and also aid for further studies in transmission, utilisation and portection of power system for smooth and steady operation.

In thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that transforms thermal energy, often from combustion of a fuel, into rotational energy. Most thermal power stations produce steam, so they are sometimes called steam power stations. Not all thermal energy can be transformed into mechanical power, according to the second law of thermodynamics; therefore, there is always heat lost to the environment. If this loss is employed as useful heat, for industrial processes or district heating, the power plant is referred to as a cogeneration power plant or CHP (combined heat-and-power) plant. In countries where district heating is common, there are dedicated heat plants called heat-only boiler stations. An important class of power stations in the Middle East uses by-product heat for the desalination of water.

The efficiency of a thermal power cycle is limited by the maximum working fluid temperature produced. The efficiency is not directly a function of the fuel used. For the same steam conditions, coal-, nuclear- and gas power plants all have the same theoretical efficiency. Overall, if a system is on constantly (base load) it will be more efficient than one that is used intermittently (peak load). Steam turbines generally operate at higher efficiency when operated at full capacity.

This course is imporatant to Minimum Competency Vocational Course (MCVC), Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Diploma in Electrical Engineering, Graduate Engineering and Technology Students.