Coal-fired power plant development started with the introduction of the first dynamo built for power generation in 1866 by Werner von Siemens, illustrated in Figure 1-1. In 1882, Thomas Edison built the first central power station in New York. The first coal-fired steam generators provided low-pressure saturated or slightly superheated steam for steam engines driving the DC dynamos. The historical development of coal-fired power plants is listed in Figure 1-2.

In 1884, Sir Charles Parsons built the first steam turbine-generator with a thermal efficiency of only 1.6%. Two years later he improved the steam turbine performance by introducing the first...