Power Generation in RWBY

In the world of Remnant, Dust is the Predominate way to produce power, almost to a detriment. At the same time, Dust is easily better than any fossil fuels and some renewables. Dust cannot function in space which keeps technology grounded to the planet. That said, Power Generation is one of the key components of a Pre-Space CIvilization that allows civilizations to transition from the mundane and aspire to the spectacular. 
In Remnant, Power Generation is solely the territory of Atlas, cut between Whtiecliffe and the SDC as the world's sole highest produces of wattage that fuels every settlement on the planet and fulfils the insatiable demand. Even though Dust is not truly understood by many, as its function literally defies physics in ornate displays of Arcane power. Atlas, as a nation combined has harnessed it and worked  Dust into every facet of technology there is.
The hope is to one day create a way of generating power so Humanity can leave its cradle and go into space, hopefully without the Grimm Following them...
Dustology 

Ways to Generate Power

1. Dust Activation

The Standard Method of Power Generation is the activation of Dust and harnessing the subsequent power reaction. This is why every battery and power pack either has Liquid Dust or uses liquid dust as a form of fuel. In prior ages, a person would be required to activate a dust crystal in order to make energy but now the process is wholly automated through the use of combustion.
Once a single person has used his aura to activate one or more Fire dust crystals, the resulting heat can be used to trigger reactions from Crystalized or Liquid dust, thus automating the process. The more pure the Crystal or liquid is, the better the reaction thus Pre Electric Dust Crystals are among the most highly sort after crystals in the world. A Standard Dust Power Plant produces about 4,500 kWh a day on standard operation, some plants produce much more than that. For reference, a standard coal power plant produces  2,460 kWh a Day.
While the Reward is higher, so is the Danger as pure Dust Crystals can be hard to find without Deep mining and expensive to refine poor-quality Crystals into refined Crystals.

2. Nuclear Fission

Whitecliffe discovered Nuclear Dust and learned how to create Nuclear Dust by fusing Uranium and Electric Dust together, creating hyperreactive and powerful Electric Dust Crystals that glow a bright Amber. Nuclear Crystals have the ability to Creation absurd amounts of heat and thus allow the fans of a reactor to spin. While slightly more expensive, a Nuclear Fission Plant operating with Nuclear Dust creates about 450 MeV Per Fission Reaction.
For reference, a Real World Thorium Fission Reactor creates about 190 MeV Per Fission reaction. Meaning that Dust Nuclear Fission is an extremely effective means of power Generation but the problem with Nuclear Dust is that it is highly radioactive and dangerous to hold. The Bright glowing Amber is producing lots of Gamma radiation every second meaning it must be stored carefully and if a reactor was to be built improperly or damaged, it could mean substantial amounts of long-lasting damage.
That said, People in RWBY are very far from attaining any form of Nuclear Fusion mostly because Nuclear Dust is expensive the amount needed to start a Fusion reaction is too expensive and there is just a general lack of interest and development regarding Fusion.

3. Renewables

Renewables means stuff like Hydro, Geothermal, Wind, Solar and Bio Fuels. Did you know that Grimm Essence which is the substance left behind by fully decayed Grimm Corpse can be used as Biomaterial? Meaning that Killing Grimm can literally keep the lights going by using their essence as Bio Power generation. Dust is also pretty involved, for instance, there is a 'Wave Plant' in Cadia, Solitas where Wind Dust is used to create intense water currents and that water current is used to generate Hydro Power.
In the Snowy wastes outside of Atlas there is a Hyperactive Volcanic plain that is made passable by building a massive Geothermal Power Plant smack dab o the hot spot, With Fire and Rock Dust combined, they can generate magma and generate power from subterranean heat. However the most common use of dust is ice Dust, Ice Dust Coolant is used to swiftly cool Magma when the Facility's safety is threatened,
Finally, there is Solar and Wind. Dust isn't really involved in these two as they are done pretty much in similar ways to our world except that Huge batteries store their energy via harnessing electricity and pumping it into liquid Dust and then crystalizing that Dust for transport and use. meaning that Solar and Wind batteries have millions of times more storage, allowing Engineers to go wild on ways to produce power from Wind and Solar.

Fossil Fuels

While less common, Fossil Power Generation does have value, such as generating Demand for Oil but also creating Extra Carbon Gas. By Harnessing Carbon Gas and fusing it with Rock Dust, you create Carbon Dust which then can be used to create more coal. This means Fossil Energy Production has been made renewable in the oddest of ways. Rather than pumping Co2 into the air, they vent it into underground storage where it is processed by Synthetics to create more Coal to use.
Anything that creates carbon can have this be done, so now Civilizations of RWBY can create Carbon by any means and turn a profit from it while also saving the planet from one form of pollution. 

Conclusion

As you can see, Salem was not lying when she said that Dust made its way into every facet of technology in some form, Dust rapidly improves the capability of Societies on Remnant, even turning previously costly and inefficient methods into highly effective and clean ways of generating power. This is why in the world of RWBY you see amazing Computers, advanced Robotics, Sci-fi Technology and groundbreaking Scientific Development. 
In RWBY there is no Power Crisis but there is a Power Distribution Crisis, with Generation only in the hands of so few, it makes everyone else dependent on Atlas for their power, to fuel their Cars, their lights, their farms, hospitals, basic everyday function of a modern city and Economy. There is also the problem of sustainability, the SDC dries up entire countries, as such the case with Vacuo where they dried up an already dry place into a wasteland, extracting Dust and sapping the very land of life.
This isn't necessary, as any engineer could probably think of 1000 and 1 ways to power just about anything without needing billions of tons of Dust to produce energy. It's all out of Greed and it is slowly killing the planet as well as everything else on it which hardly helps the Grimm crisis at all. 
In terms of Production and consumption, Civilizations on Remnant would be a near fit for a Type 1 Civilization on the Kardashev Scale, which means they're reaching the point where they've maximized power production planetside. This means in order to harness even more energy, they have to go to space and they will eventually need more energy if they don't want to turn the entire world into a wasteland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

Electric Dust is Dust that is capable of generating Electricity and is among the best batteries in the world, each refined crystal containing about 2000 Watts per crystal. The purer the Electric Dust the higher the wattage per crystal.  Thus it is not uncommon for power companies to mine uncut Electric Dust, purify it and then either sell Crystals or Dust Fluid contained in lithium batteries.

With the Discovery of Nuclear Dust, Nuclear Power Generation has become possible. Nuclear Dust is a dust type capable of generating insane amounts of heat a thus easily fuels Fission Power Reactors with Ice Liquid Dust being used as a Coolant to keep reactors well-cooled and safe. There are about 15 Fission reactors in the world with 14 of them being in Solitas. Most Fission Power generation is done by Whitecliffe with Atlas still preferring traditional Electric Dust.

Power Plants come in many forms, there is a lot of power infrastructure on the surface of Remnant. Many Silos exist in well-defended facilities where Plants exist. The most famous of Power orientated facilities is the SDC's Giga Extractors which produce absurd amounts of power and also house research stations and more. A big reason why Power Plants are so common to find in the wilds rather than near cities is that Dust is explosive and thus it is safer than if an accident happens, only the facility is lost rather then city blocks, saving a lot on lawsuits too you know.