GP was likely referring to power plants that burn things in order to heat up water to make steam in order to rotate an iron core encircled by copper wire. Using

GP was likely referring to power plants that burn things in order to heat up water to make steam in order to rotate an iron core encircled by copper wire. Using kinetic energy like wind or flowing water is a nice shortcut to the rotating iron core. Even nicer: Cut out the rotating iron core and directly produce voltage via photons hitting a semiconductor. I share GP‘s sentiment though that, in the end, there are remarkably few concepts at the bottom layer of electricity production. (There are other means of course, but they are not in use for power generation in amounts that can drive even one household, AFAIK)