Thermal power plants in the economy of the country

In the economy of any country, the energy complex is of paramount importance. Electric power is important in all aspects of the functioning of the state (both in the industrial sector and in the home). One of the main links in the electric power industry are thermal power plants. Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Thermal power plants - a set of equipment designed to convert the chemical, thermal energy of natural fuel into electricity. As energy carriers use coal, black oil, natural gas, peat, shale. This type of electricity generation became known in the late nineteenth century, when the first thermal power plants were built in New York (in 1882), in Petersburg (in 1883), in Berlin (in 1884). Since that time, the generation of electricity at TPPs has become the main one in the power industry, and to this day it remains so.

Thermal power plants are divided into condensing and combined heat and power plants. This division is natural. Condensing thermal power plants produce only electricity, while cooling fluid is reused and drained into reservoirs. Such companies have a small coefficient of efficiency (30% -40%). The construction of condensing thermal power plants is rational near the fuel extraction sites, even if they are at a considerable distance from the consumer.

In the city, heat and power plants are mainly used, which, in addition to their main task of generating electricity, provide residents with hot water. Experts have long proven that such a method of delivery of the coolant is inefficient, because it is accompanied by large losses of thermal energy, but most of our cities use electric power plants.

At present, Russia's thermal power plants produce more than 70% of the country's total electricity. Large industrial power plants that produce more than 2 million kW are Urengoyskaya GRES, Berezovskaya GRES, Surgutskaya GRES, GRES on the basis of the Kansk-Achinsk basin. Thermal power plants in Russia mainly use natural gas, coal and fuel oil in their work.

The use of CHP has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages of this type of power plant is its free location. Nowadays, the necessary fuel can be delivered to any region. CHP plants are able to supply heat and heat, in addition to electricity, and hot water, which is especially important in the urban economy. Also, the generation of electricity does not depend on external climatic conditions.

Among the shortcomings in the use of CHP plants are a low efficiency of work, pollution of the environment, work on natural resources, whose reserves are not being restored.

In the country's energy system, besides thermal ones, hydraulic and nuclear power stations are used, but the role of the CHP plant remains huge. In recent years, more and more are beginning to use the energy of wind and sun.