This article lists the largest

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

stations in the world, the ten overall and the five of each type, in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...

and

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

, while

renewable A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

power stations run on fuel sources such as

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

geothermal heat Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ o ...

hydro Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

, solar heat,

tides Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

and the

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

. Only the most significant fuel source is listed for power stations that run on multiple sources. As of 2021, the largest power generating facility ever built is the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...

in China. The facility generates power by utilizing 32

Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proces ...

s each having a capacity of and two turbines, totalling the installed capacity to , more than twice the installed capacity of the largest nuclear power station, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (Japan) at . As of 2019, no power station comparable to Three Gorges is under construction, as the largest under construction power station is hydroelectric

Baihetan Dam The Baihetan Dam () is a large hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River, an upper stretch of the Yangtze River in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, in southwest China. The dam is a 289-meter-tall double-curvature arch dam with a crest elevation of 827 m ...

(). Proposed 20,000 MW Australia's Darwin Solar Park, for the

Australia-Asia Power Link The Australia–Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) is a proposed electricity infrastructure project that is planned to include the world's largest solar plant, the world's largest battery, and the world's longest submarine power cable. A solar farm ...

, would be slightly below the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam. Proposed

Grand Inga Dam The Grand Inga Dam is a series of seven proposed hydroelectric power stations at the site of the Inga Falls, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If built as planned, the 40-70 GW project would be the largest power station in the world. ...

in the Congo would surpass all existing power stations, including the Three Gorges Dam, if construction commences as planned. The design targets to top in installed capacity, nearly twice that of the Three Gorges. Another proposal,

Penzhin Tidal Power Plant Project The Penzhin Tidal Power Plant Project is a set of proposals for construction of a tidal power plant in the Penzhin Bay, which is an upper right arm of Shelikhov Bay in the north-east corner of the Sea of Okhotsk. Because Penzhin Bay has one of the ...

, presumes an installed capacity up to .

Top 20 largest power producing facilities

Timeline of the largest power plants in the world

At any point in time since the early 20th century, the largest power station in the world has been a

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

Non-renewable power stations

Coal

Fuel oil

Natural gas

Nuclear

Oil shale

Peat

Renewable power stations

Biomass

Geothermal

Hydroelectric

Conventional

Run-of-the-river

Tide

Solar power

Photovoltaic

2020-05-20, Sentinel-2A L1C, True color (1)

Concentrated solar thermal

Wind

Onshore

Offshore

Storage power stations

Pumped-storage

Battery storage

Molten-salt

List of largest power station and unit within each country

The following table lists the largest operating power station, and the largest single generating unit within each country.

References

External links

World's 39 largest electric power plants

{{DEFAULTSORT:Largest power stations Lists of power stations Economy-related lists of superlatives

Power stations A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

Lists related to renewable energy