The world's largest nuclear power plant is the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, with an installed capacity of 8,212MW.
The world's largest coal fired power plant is the Taichung Power Plant in Taiwan, with an installed capacity of 5,780MW.
The world's largest fuel oil power plant is the Shoaiba power and desalination plant in Saudi Arabia, with an installed capacity of 5,600MW.
The world's largest natural gas power plant is the Surgut-2 Power Station in Russia, with an installed capacity of 5,597.1MW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lar...
For the area of land used, coal fired power stations produce a lot more electricity than hydro, however hydro is much more flexible, they can go from zero to full load in minutes.
The power output of hydro is dependent on the volume of water, the size of the reservoir, there are only a few places in the world, that are suitable for large hydro stations, whereas you can build a coal fired station as big as you need, and where ever you want.
The hydro-electric dam's output is much cheaper. So cheap in fact, the rangers won't tell you, even if you directly ask.
Here s a good place to start:
Compare the power output by large hydropower plants to that of large coal-fired power plants. Are the two types similar in their capacity, or it one clearly a lot more that the other? Explain.
