Electricity is produced from several sources, including coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, solar, and wind energy through efficient, reliable, and sustainable manners. India is among the leading power-generating countries in the world with different power types such as thermal, hydro, nuclear, and renewable. India’s installed power capacity, as of 2024, stands at over 400 GW, of which 40% of the capacity is expected to be from renewable sources.

Power Generation Processes 

• Thermal Power Plants: Combust coal, natural gas, or oil to generate steam for turbines coupled with generators for electrical generation. 
• Hydropower Plants: Harness water flow to rotate turbines; the rotation is linked to generators to supply power through the kinetic energy. 
• Nuclear Power Plants: Nuclear fission produces heat in reactors to create steam to turn turbines and generate power. 
• Renewable Energy Plants: Photovoltaic and thermal for power generation through sunlight energy, wind turbine-generated electricity, and electricity from the combustion of organic material biomass. 
• Combined Cycle Plants: Integrate the gas and steam turbines to enhance efficiency and emissions requirements by capturing and using heat from gas turbines. 

 

Boilers in the Power Generation Industries 

Boilers are used extensively for power generation, especially in thermal power plants. It transforms water into high-pressure steam, and the steam turns the turbine, thus generating electricity. Supercritical and Ultra-Supercritical Boilers are used to increase efficiency levels and cut fuel costs owing to high temperature and pressure levels. 

 

Waste heat recovery boilers (WHRB) are also emerging as an industry, especially in combined cycle plants and any industry with large amounts of waste heat, as they use waste heat to generate more power and thus make it more efficient and environmentally friendly.