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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Power Generation and Power Plants

Steam turbine

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

nounCommon term

In energy & renewables, steam turbine means: A machine in which high-pressure steam flows over rows of blades and turns a shaft connected to a generator. Coal, nuclear, geothermal and many biomass plants use one.

In Turkish: buhar türbini

How it is used

The steam comes from a boiler, a reactor or a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). After the turbine, the steam is cooled back into water in a condenser. Engineers talk about steam pressure and temperature, turbine efficiency and turbine trips.

Example sentences

  1. In a combined cycle plant, the steam turbine produces about a third of the total output without burning extra fuel.

  2. The steam turbine tripped after a vibration alarm.

Common collocations

  • steam turbine generator
  • steam pressure
  • turbine trip
  • condenser
  • gas turbineAn engine that burns gas, usually natural gas, and uses the hot expanding gases to spin a turbine connected to a generator. It can start and change output quickly.
  • combined cycleA plant design in which a gas turbine generates electricity and its hot exhaust makes steam for a steam turbine, which generates more electricity from the same fuel.
  • coal-firedDescribing a power plant or boiler that burns coal to produce heat and electricity. Coal-fired plants are among the largest sources of carbon emissions.
  • nuclear reactorThe part of a nuclear power plant where a controlled chain reaction splits uranium atoms and produces heat, which is used to make steam for the turbines.
  • geothermal energyEnergy from heat inside the Earth, brought to the surface as hot water or steam through wells and used to generate electricity or to heat buildings and greenhouses.

More terms: Power Generation and Power Plants

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