Types of Power Plants for Energy Generation (III) 发电厂类型（三）

NS Energy

之前我们了解了一些常规和传统的发电厂类型，接下来的文章就带你走进靠太阳能（光伏）、风力与潮汐发电的电厂。

Solar power plants

Solar energy plants convert energy from the sun into thermal or electrical energy using one of the cleanest and most 1）abundant renewable energy sources.

They generally do not require high maintenance and last for about 20 to 25 years.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency （IRENA）， global solar power capacity will increase by 9% each year between 2018 and 2050， in which time it will grow from 480 GW to more than 8，000 GW.

But the 2）initial costs involved in financing solar power plants are high and the installation requires a lot of space.

Wind power plants

In recent years， there has been a rapid growth in the number of wind farms across the world， 3）underpinned by technological advancements.

Wind farms can also be constructed on agricultural lands， without causing any interruption to 4）cultivation activities.

But the maintenance of wind 5）turbines may vary， as some need to be frequently checked and wind power projects typically require huge capital 6）expenditure.

1） abundant [??b?nd?nt] adj.丰富的    4） cultivation [?k?lt??ve??n] n.耕种

2） initial [??n??l] adj.最初的    5） turbine [?t??ba?n] n.涡轮机

3） underpin [??nd??p?n] v.加强……的基础    6） expenditure [?k?spend?t??（r）] n.花费

Tidal power plants

Tidal energy is generated from converting energy from the force tides into power and its production is considered more predictable compared to wind energy and solar power.

But tidal power is still not widely used， even though the world's first large-scale plant of its type became operational in 1966.

An increased focus on generating power from renewable sources is expected to accelerate the development of new methods to exploit tidal energy.

Although the development of tidal power is at the nascent stage， it has the potential to grow significantly in the coming years.

太阳能发电厂

太阳能发电厂使用最清洁和最丰富的可再生能源——太阳能，将其转化为热能或电能。

它们通常不需要很高的维护成本，可使用20到25年。

根据国际可再生能源机构的数据，从2018年到2050年，全球太阳能发电容量将以每年9%的速度增长，届时它将从480吉瓦增长到8000吉瓦以上。

但是，为太阳能发电厂融资涉及的初始成本很高，并且安装需要大量空间。

风力发电厂

近年来，在技术进步的支持下，全球风力发电场数量迅速增长。

风力发电场可以在农田上建造，不会对耕种活动造成任何干扰。

但是风力涡轮机的维护可能会有所不同，因为其中一些需要经常检查，并且风力发电项目通常需要巨额的资本支出。

潮汐发电厂

潮汐能是通过将潮汐的能量转换为电能而产生的，与风能和太阳能相比，潮汐能的产生更可预测。

但是，即使世界上第一座此类大型电厂于1966年就投入运营，潮汐能仍未得到廣泛使用。

各国预计将越来越重视利用可再生能源发电，这将加速开发利用潮汐能的新方法。

尽管潮汐能的发展还处于起步阶段，但它有潜力在未来几年中显著增长。