Introduction::

Conventional Power Plant:A Conventional Power Plant is a fossil-fuel power station. It is a type of power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum (oil) to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used.

Basic Concepts:In a fossil fuel power plant the chemical energy stored in fossil fuels such as coal, fuel oil, natural gas or oil shale and oxygen of the air is converted successively into thermal energy, mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy.

The second law of thermodynamics states that any closed-loop cycle can only convert a fraction of the heat produced during combustion into mechanical work. The rest of the heat, called waste heat, must be released into a cooler environment during the return portion of the cycle. The fraction of heat released into a cooler medium must be equal or larger than the ratio of absolute temperatures of the cooling system (environment) and the heat source (combustion furnace). Raising the furnace temperature improves the efficiency but complicates the design, primarily by the selection of alloys used for construction, making the furnace more expensive. The waste heat cannot be converted into mechanical energy without an even cooler cooling system. However, it may be used in cogeneration plants to heat buildings, produce hot water, or to heat materials on an industrial scale, such as in some oil refineries, plants, and chemical synthesis plants.

Technical Description: Fuel; The fuel used in this power plant is always a fossil fuel which can be COAl, NATURAL GAS or Oil like DIESEL, gasoline etc. Type; According to fuel used, these power plants can be categorized as:

THERMAL(COAL) POWER PLANT DEISEL POWER PLANT NATURAL GAS POWER PLANT Power; The generate power is measured in Megawatts and Gigawatt with the given standard time of
an hour. The generated power is then measured as KWh i.e. Kilowatt hour.The maximum capacity of a power plant may be approx. 3200 MW for Peak Load conditions while for Base load condition generated power is less than the Peak load and is varied from plant to plant as different stations are operated on different heat cycles and efficiency. Efficiency; The Carnot efficiency dictates that higher efficiencies can be attained by increasing the temperature of the steam. Sub-critical fossil fuel power plants can achieve 3640% efficiency. Super critical designs have efficiencies in the low to mid 40% range, with new "ultra critical" designs using pressures of 4400 psi (30.3 MPa) and multiple stage reheat reaching about 48% efficiency. Above the critical point for water of 705 F (374 C) and 3212 psi (22.06 MPa), there is no phase transition from water to steam, but only a gradual decrease in density.

Economy:- The world's power demands are expected to rise 60% by 2030. With the worldwide total
of active coal plants over 50,000 and rising, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that fossil fuels will account for 85% of the energy market by 2030

Environmental Impact:Fossil fueled power stations are major emitters of CO2, a greenhouse gas (GHG) which according to a consensus opinion of scientific organizations is a contributor to global warming as it has been observed over the last 100 years. Brown coal emits about 3 times as much CO2 as natural gas, and black coal emits about twice as much CO2 per unit of electric energy. Carbon capture and storage of emissions is not expected to be available on a commercial economically viable basis until about 2025. A recent study indicates that sulfur emissions from fossil fueled power stations in China have caused a 10-year lull in global warming (1998-2008).

World organizations and international agencies, like the IEA, are concerned about the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels, and coal in particular. The combustion of coal contributes the most to acid rain and air pollution, and has been connected with global warming. Due to the chemical composition of coal there are difficulties in removing impurities from the solid fuel prior to its combustion. Modern day coal power plants pollute less than older designs due to new "scrubber" technologies that filter the exhaust air in smoke stacks; however emission levels of various pollutants are still on average several times greater than natural gas power plants. In these modern designs, pollution from coal-fired power plants comes from the emission of gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide into the air. Acid rain is caused by the emission of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. These gases may be only mildly acidic themselves, yet when they react with the atmosphere, they create acidic compounds such as sulfurous acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid which fall as rain, hence the term acid rain. In Europe and the U.S.A., stricter emission laws and decline in heavy industries have reduced the environmental hazards associated with this problem, leading to lower emissions after their peak in 1960s. European Environment Agency (EEA) gives fuel-dependent emission factors based on actual emissions from power plants in EU.[10] Hard coal Brown coal Fuel oil Other oil Gas CO2 (g/GJ) 94600 101000 77400 74100 56100 SO2 (g/GJ) 765 1361 1350 228 0.68 NOx (g/GJ) 292 183 195 129 93.3 CO (g/GJ) 89.1 89.1 15.7 15.7 14.5 Non methane organic compounds (g/GJ) 4.92 7.78 3.70 3.24 1.58 Particulate matter (g/GJ) 1203 3254 16 1.91 0.1 3 Flue gas volume total (m /GJ) 360 444 279 276 272 Pollutant

Non-Conventional Power Plant:Non-Conventional Power Plant is Renewable energy based Power Plant. This is, energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides, plant growth, and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains: Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.

Basic Concept:Electricity in this plant is generated by either direct method like Solar Photovoltaic Cells, Magneto Hydrodynamic Generators (MHD) or by the help of Prime movers, which rotates by the energy source to convert its energy into mechanical energy and this mechanical energy is then transmitted to the generator (via Shaft and sometimes Reduction Gears) to produce electricity, as in Hydro Power Plant and Wind Mills,

Technical Description: Fuel; water, wind, solar energy, tides, geo-springs, Uranium, Thorium, Ocean waves etc. are
different fuels which are used as renewable energy sources. Power; About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from hydroelectricity. New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 3% and are growing very rapidly.[1] The share of renewables in electricity generation is around 19%, with 16% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewables Wind power; 238,000 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2011. Solar Power; capacity worldwide is 67,000 MW, and PV power stations are popular in Germany

and Italy

. A Tidal Power Generation Unit Efficiency; Efficiency of renewable energy sources varies from 43% to85% for different sources. The most efficient source is Nuclear, Water and then Wind which gives 16% of worlds energy consumption. Economy:- Total investment in renewable energy reached $211 billion in 2010, up from $160 billion in 2009. The top countries for investment in 2010 were China, Germany, the United States, Italy, and Brazil. Continued growth for the renewable energy sector is expected and promotional policies helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.

Renewable power generation costs 2012

Typical electricity costs (U.S. cents/kWh) Large hydro Plant size: 10 - 18,000 MW 3-5 Small hydro Plant size: 1-10 MW 5-12 Onshore wind Turbine size: 1.5 - 3.5 MW 5-9 Offshore wind Turbine size: 1.5 - 5 MW 10-14 Biomass power Plant size: 1-20 MW 5-12 Geothermal power Plant size: 1-100 MW 4-7 Rooftop solar PV Peak capacity: 2-5 kilowatts-peak 20-50 Utility-scale solar PV Peak capacity: 200 kW to 100MW 15-30 Concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) 50-500 MW trough 14-18 Power generator Typical characteristics As time progresses, renewable energy generally gets cheaper, while fossil fuels generally get more expensive.

Environmental Impact:
Pollution free sustainable energy. Reduced ecological degradation. Free fuel availability. Simple recycling of used fuel.

An Environmental tariff, also known as a green tariff or eco-tariff, is an import or export tax placed on products being imported from, or also being sent to countries with substandard environmental pollution controls. They can be used as controls on global pollution and can also be considered as corrective measures against "environmental races to the bottom" and "eco-dumping".

Installation And Working Life::

1.Conventional Power Plant