A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are over 2,400 coal-fired power stations, totaling over 2,130 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a third of the world's electricity, but cause many illnesses and the most early deaths, mainly from air pollution. World installed capacity doubled from 2000 to 2023 and increased 2% in 2023.
Bełchatów Power Station in Bełchatów, Poland
Frimmersdorf Power Station in Grevenbroich, Germany
Holborn Viaduct power station in London, the world's first public steam-driven coal power station, opened in 1882
Castle Gate Plant near Helper, Utah
A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a steam turbine connected to an electrical generator. The low-pressure exhaust from the turbine enters a steam condenser where it is cooled to produce hot condensate which is recycled to the heating process to generate more high pressure steam. This is known as a Rankine cycle.
Nantong Power Station, a coal-fired power station in Nantong, China
Rooiwal Power Station in South Africa
Geothermal power station in Iceland
Drax Power Station, the world's largest biomass power station, in England
