The turbine

The steam from the boiler, rich in energy, is piped into the turbine, which has numerous rows of blades. In each blade row the steam releases a part of its energy (becoming cooler and losing pressure), and this energy is imparted to the turbine shaft: the shaft rotates. The turbine has three sections. First, the steam flows through the high-pressure turbine; after that it is reheated in the boiler and then piped to the intermediate-pressure and low-pressure turbine. After leaving the turbine the steam now only has a temperature of 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, but is still gaseous in form due to the vacuum prevailing in the system. In the condenser it condenses to water which then can be pumped back to the boiler.