For the following reasons, a Power plant capacity rating may be expressed in MW

instead of MVA.
In a Generating station, the prime mover (Turbine) generates only and only Active
Power. Thats why we rated a power plant capacity in MW instead of MVA. Its mean no
matter how large your generator is, but it depends on the capacity of the engine (Prime
mover/Turbine) I.e. a 50MW turbine connected to a 90MVA alternator in a power plant
will generate only 50MW at full load. In short, a power plant rating is specified in terms
of prime mover /Turbine (Turbine rating may be seen by nameplate rating which is in
MW or Horsepower (HP) not in MVA) and not by the alternator set coupled to it.
Another thing is that, electric power company charges their consumer for kVA while they
generate kW (or MW) at the power station (Power plant).They penalize their consumer
for lowPower factor because they are not responsible for low power factor and kVA but
you. Moreover,in power plant, power factor is 1 therefore MW is equal to MVA (MW
= MVA x P.f).
Another interesting & funny answer by one of our Facebook page fanPower House
means, house of the Power, and we know that the unit or power is Watt. Thats why we
rated power plant capacity in MW and not in MVA
Why Alternator/Generator Rated in kVA. Not in kW?
The power 3 VL IL Cos delivered by the alternator for the same value of current,
depends upon p.f. (Power Factor=Cos ) of the load. But the alternator conductors are
calculated for a definite current and the insulation at magnetic system are designed for
a definite voltage independent of p.f. (Cos ) of the load. For this reason apparent
power measured in kVA is regarded as the rated power of the alternator.

In Simple words,
There are two type of losses in a transformer;
1. Copper Losses
2. Iron Losses or Core Losses or Insulation Losses
Copper losses ( IR)depends on Current which passing through transformer winding while Iron
Losses or Core Losses or Insulation Losses depends on Voltage.
Thats why the Transformer Rating may be expressed in kVA,Not in kW. Why Battery rating in
Ah (Ampere hour) and not in VA.
Battery stores charge in the form of chemical energy and then converts it into electrical
energy to utilize for a specific time. The amount of available charge is the capacity of a
cell or battery which may be expressed in Ah (Ampere-hour). Moreover, in a charged
battery, the numbers of molecules are limited to create a flow of electron in electric
circuits, so, there must be a limited number of electrons in a cell/battery which they
motivate through a circuit tofully discharge. Now we have the option to rate the battery
capacity in Number of flowing electrons for a specific time, but, it would be a headache,
because there are a vast number of electrons in it. So we have another option (1C
(Coulomb) = 6.25 x 1018electrons, or 6,250,000,000,000,000,000 electrons.
In addition, 1A (Ampere) = 1 coulomb of electrons per second and,
1h = 3600 Seconds
Therefore;
1Ah = (1A) x (3600s) = (C/s) x (3600s) = 3600 C.
A (1 Ampere) = 1 Coulomb per second = C/s
But,
Why make up a new unit for battery capacity rating when an old one unit is doing just
fine?

Of course! To make your lives as technicians and students more difficult.

As they do for electricity units i.e. 1 Unit of Electricity = 1kWh = 1 board of Trade Unit
Why Motor rated in kW instead of kVA

Why Motor rated in kW/Horsepower instead of kVA?

We know that Transformer rating may be expressed in kVA as well as Generator
and Alternator rated in kVA Designer doesnt know the actual consumer power factor
while manufacturing transformers and generators i.e. the P.F (Power factor) of
Transformer and Generator/Alternator depends on the nature of connected load such as
resistive load, capacitive load, and inductive load as Motors, etc. But Motorhas fixed
Power factor, i.e. motor has defined power factor and the rating has been mentioned in
KW on Motor nameplate data table. Thats why we are rated Motor in kW or HP
(kilowatts/ Horsepower) instead of kVA.
In addition, Motor is a device which converts Electrical power into Mechanical power. In
this case, the load is not electrical, but mechanical (Motors Output) and we take into the
account only active power which has to be converted into mechanical load. Moreover,
the motor power factor does not depend on the load and it works on any P.F because of
its design.