Usina is a concept that derives from usine, a French term. The notion is used in several South American countries with reference to an industrial plant that produces, on a large scale, electricity, gas, drinking water or another element of social importance.
A mill, therefore, is a type of factory with a certain specialization. Depending on the context, a steel plant, a hydroelectric plant, an oil refinery, and other places may be called power plants. For example: “The authorities have promised to carry out a thorough investigation into the contamination around the plant”, “We must position the region as a dairy factory”, “I worked for more than a decade in a chemical factory”.
The generation of energy is the concept of plant related to the activity and consists of the transformation into energy of different types such as thermal, chemical, nuclear, solar or kinetic. To carry out this process, it is necessary to resort to power plants, where some of these transformations are carried out, essential for the electricity supply networks. The fundamental component for the generation of energy is the so-called electric generator, a device that is used to maintain a potential difference between two poles (also known as terminals or terminals), so that mechanical energy is transformed into electrical energy. . Another field in which the term plant is used to refer to an industrial site is mining, the economic activity that consists of the exploration or extraction of minerals from the deposits, soil and subsoil areas in which they have accumulated. Mining can be metallic (when gold, copper, silver, lead, aluminum, mercury or iron are extracted, among others) or non-metallic (when sapphire, granite, clay, mica, marble, emerald or quartz are sought, among others) . Metal mining focuses on the production of industrial items, while the other, also called quarrying and construction, is aimed at raw material for ornamentation and jewelry, as well as construction materials. In steel mills, iron ore is treated to generate other types of iron ore or some of its alloys. Mineral extraction is the first step in this process, since iron is found in nature in the form of carbonates, hydroxides, oxides, sulfides and silicates. Another industrial platform commonly known as a power plant is the oil refinery, where a process is carried out to obtain various fossil fuels that can be used in asphalt, mineral oils and combustion engines (such as gasoline and diesel).
On the other hand, in everyday speech, many people use the term power plant to refer to the room in a rural house where, for example, the water pump and the light machine are located. The idea of a power plant is also used to refer to the environment, physical or symbolic, that contributes to the generation of ideas or intangible themes. A political analyst can say that a certain library is a “neoliberal power”, because in that place there are intellectuals who spread the precepts of neoliberalism. In a similar sense, a neighborhood can be called a “cultural plant” if its streets are home to cultural centers, theaters and exhibition halls. This is because there are multiple artistic expressions in this area. Finally, the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) has a state space called Usina del Arte, made up of a symphony hall, a chamber hall and a microcinema, among other facilities for holding cultural events, such as concerts, screenings of films, conferences and others.
