A power plant, also referred to as a generating station, power plant, powerhouse, or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Engineers and utility staff usually use the female gender when referring to a power station – its working parts are perhaps regarded as a form of beached, inland, ship, as they in the past would always have resembled a ship’s steam turbine propulsion equipment. Most power stations contain one or more generators, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into electrical power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electrical current. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity.
