Video narration
How can burning fuel light your home if fire isn't electricity? Picture a giant kettle. In a thermal power plant, fuel releases heat in a boiler, heating water into high-pressure steam. Here's the key: the fuel does not make electricity directly. It makes steam first. The steam makes motion. Steam rushes through a turbine, turning its blades like wind turns a fan. The turbine shaft drives a generator, which converts spinning motion into electrical power. But the steam isn't used up. It enters a condenser, which cools it back into water. The water returns to the boiler, while electricity travels to the power grid. So how does burning fuel light your home? Heat makes steam, steam spins a turbine, a generator turns that motion into electricity for the grid, and cooled water returns to the boiler to begin the cycle all over again.