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= Power Plant Engineering =

Power Plant Engineering is the a branch of Power Engineering that deals with energy, where to get it from and how to use in power plants. Power plants are used worldwide to generate power for millions of people at a time. Since power plants have become more and more complex over time, there are various types of engineers that work in them. Even though they are not power plant engineers, they still work with and in power plants. For example, a nuclear power plant, a wind power plant, a hydroelectric power plant  and a geothermal power plant will all have different types of engineers working there, even though they are all essentially doing the same thing.

Early Power Plants
In 1879, the Dolgeville Power Plant opened up and started to supply power to industrial sites in the area. This was a hydroelectric plant and is considered to be the first of its kind in North America and opened the door for people like Thomas Edison to work with power plants.

Three years later in Appleton, Wisconsin, the first Thomas Edison designed power plant opened up and supplied many differents things and areas in its time. For example, in 1886 it gave power to the trolleys in the area. Also, when it first opened it supplied power to the house of the owner of the plant, H.J. Rogers, and also the Vulcan Paper Mill. It gave energy to a few more buildings and factories in the area before it burned down in 1891, only 9 years after its opening.

Power Plants Today
In today’s world, the power plants we have serve more than just a few buildings in the local area. Power plants are now big enough to give energy and electricity to entire cities and even beyond that. They are much bigger and more efficient than the early power plants of the 1800’s. For example, the power plant from Appleton, Wisconsin had a capacity of 12.5 kW. The world’s biggest power plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, has a capacity of over 7,900,000 kW. So, in a little over 100 years, the capacity for a power plant has improved by a multiple of over 630,000. This power plant has been shut down since 2013 for safety reasons, but there are plans for it to be up and running very soon.

The largest power plant in North America is Bruce Nuclear Generating Station located in Ontario, Canada. This plant provides power to a third of the businesses, houses, and building in Ontario. This is a drastic leap from the three buildings that the Appleton plant supplied power to in 1882. This plant is essential to the economy of Ontario, providing around 4000 jobs to the city and its surrounding areas.

Out of the ten biggest power plants in the world, all ten are nuclear power plants. This shows how the industry has evolved from mostly hydroelectric to nuclear. Nuclear produces the most power and produces it the quickest.

Nuclear Power Plant
Nuclear power plants create a large amount of power and that power is more reliable than other types of energy plants. Also, the energy they create is not bad for the environment and when it is being generate it does not emit a large amount of harmful gases. They are one of the most efficient types of power plants because of the amount of power they use compared to what they create.

Hydroelectric Power Plant
Hydroelectric power plants use the force of running water to create energy and electricity. It is more environmentally friendly than nuclear power but doesn’t produce as much energy. The Hoover Dam is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world and it outputs over 4 billion kilowatt hours of energy per year. The only downside to these power plants is that they are very expensive to build and maintain

Mechanical Engineers

 * Ventilation
 * Repairs
 * Water Circulation and Cooling
 * Dealing with Waste

Electrical Engineers

 * Radiation
 * Generator Repair and Maintenance
 * Voltage Regulators for Parts of Plan

Computer Science Engineers

 * Analytics
 * Leak Monitor Testing
 * Fuel Analysis