• About energy
  • Energy forms
  • Sources of energy
  • Units and abbreviations
  • Australia's energy industry
• Generation
• Non-renewable energy
• Renewable energy
• Transmission and distribution

Home Page > About electricity > Generation

Generation

Most of the world's power stations generate electricity from fossil fuels in 3 stages:

1. first, chemical energy is converted into heat energy
2. then the heat is converted to mechanical energy
3. finally the mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. These steps are carried out by means of boilers, turbines and generators

Electricity can also be generated in wind farms, hydro-electric dams, biomass plants and other facilities.

Energy types

There are two types of energy:

• Renewable
• Non-renewable