Thermal/Steam power plants use fuels such as petroleum, coal, or biomass are burned to heat water to create steam, the pressure of the steam spins a turbine turning the copper wire inside the generator. 

Geothermal power plants are steam power plants that tap into steam released from the earth. Once used the water is returned to the ground. 

Gas power plants use fuels that are burned to create hot gases to spin the turbine. 

Nuclear power plants 

Nuclear generators use nuclear fission to turn water into steam. This drives the steam turbine, which spins a generator to produce power. A pound of highly enriched uranium can power a nuclear submarine or nuclear aircraft carrier is equal to something on the order of a million gallons of gasoline. 

Wind power plants use the wind to push against the turbine blades, spinning the copper wires inside the generator to create an electric current. 

Hydroelectric dams use falling (or flowing) water to spin the turbine blades. 

Coal plants burn coal to drive a steam engine. Coal is plentiful, but the collateral damage is extreme. 

Fossil fuel power plants burn oil to drive a steam engine. Burning fossil fuels is increasingly expensive, and highly polluting. Oil supplies will run very thin in the coming decades.