It is often forgotten, in this era where it is virtually abandoned, that the Power Plant was not solely set up to provide electric power; the Power Plant's builders had a far grander vision. Not only did they hope to light up Kanto and Johto, but also to provide a sufficient supply of power – or "energy" as it is more often known - for pokemon trainers across the region.
Lightning Pokemon, drawn by the immense supply of free electricity, soon flocked to the Power Plant, and this fact doomed its builders' plan to supply other forms of energy for pokemon battles. The places where the energy would be harvested became a virtual electric barrier as thick as a force field, impossible to harvest profitably. For this energy must first be separated out from far greater portions of electricity – and worse, it must be removed from a Power Plant that teemed with wild pokemon without being consumed in the process of driving them off.
Pokemon trainers today see the Power Plant primarily as a source of wild Lightning Pokemon and energy, and other kinds of pokemon are only brought there to help capture the locals. But those trainers who bring more than one type soon notice a curious quirk which dates back to the building's original design; any energy they bring of one type can be freely traded for another. In an era of monotype trainers, this quirk might be said to be of little relevance. Yet many trainers brought fighting pokemon and another type to the power plant and returned with Zapdos, and all of them would strongly disagree with this assessment.