Jean descended the staircase at a run, hitting the floor in a roll that took her to cover amid the ranks of hulking, spinning generators, each the size of a modest one-story house.

This power can then be used to spin electrical generators.

One potential problem is that the University of Utah work was done at low temperatures, while power plants use extremely high temperatures to produce steam to turn turbines that spin generators.

That, in turn, generates heat to produce steam that drives turbines and spins generators.

Because the demand for power varies during the day, a pumped storage plant uses cheap, nighttime electricity to pump water uphill and then lets it flow downhill, spinning generators to produce electricity during demand peaks.

It took hour to light off the boiler and develop enough steam to spin the water pumps, fans, and generators to restore operations.

Then it uses the hot exhaust from the turbines to generate steam that is used to spin other generators.