Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

70sbudgie

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

QrizB

70sbudgie said:

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

I can't answer the "where" but there are quite a few small OCGT "peaker plants". I wouldn't be surprised or concerned if some of these were being replaced or even expanded.

Martyn1981

70sbudgie said:

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

Not sure if it is going to happen, but some articles* looking at the future need for gas generation in the UK to fill in gaps, have suggested that OCGT will expand, whilst CCGT contracts.

That may seem counterintuitive, due to CCGT being more efficient (~60% v's 35% to 45%), but OCGT can be built very fast, easily and cheaply. So as total gas generation per year falls, but potentially the amount of gas generation at any given point in time rises (as leccy demand increases perhaps 150%), OCGT may be the better (more economical) choice.

But of course, the role of gas, and the generation type are still fluid, as the UK expands all forms of storage, and interconnectors.

*The one that stands out to me, was the DNV's outlook from a few years ago, but reading their 3rd report (2025 UK Energy Transition Outlook (ETO) ) the don't seem to be making a distinction anymore about the generation type. Only pointing to the capacity factor (cf) falling from around 40% today, to 5%. They do suggest gas capacity falling from 33GW today to 20GW in 2050.

silverwhistle

70sbudgie said:

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

I see Martyn has already replied. Basically if you are only going to be called on infrequently there's no point spending a lot of capital (and time)  as you'll never burn enough gas to cover the extra cost.

70sbudgie

Ok, I see now where that has come from. 

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP30), published by DESNZ in December, identified an objective of 35GW installed capacity of electricity generation from gas, with a capacity factor of 5% in 2030.  35GW is the currently installed capacity of gas generation (no differentiation between OCGT and CCGT in the DESNZ report). So the objective is to not increase the installed capacity of gas generators and to reduce their capacity factor.

But some of those gas generation plants are due to be decommissioned before 2030. So there is a lot of speculation about what is going to replace them. CP30 reads as though the lives of the existing plant can be extended to 2030. 

CP30 uses the term "unabated". Which means it doesn't have carbon capture technology.

michaels

QrizB said:

70sbudgie said:

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

I can't answer the "where" but there are quite a few small OCGT "peaker plants". I wouldn't be surprised or concerned if some of these were being replaced or even expanded.

Apparently the way we use our existing fleet, the average efficiency is only 49% and this would only fall as gas stations are turned on and off even more 

Exiled_Tyke

So you could argue that this article is actually FF in the news and not green or ethical energy.  But the impact for RE must surely be huge as these decisions should kill of any FF expansion on UK soil? 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/04/mining-firm-withdraws-plan-for-uks-first-deep-coalmine-in-30-years

Martyn1981

michaels said:

QrizB said:

70sbudgie said:

Who are building OCGT, where? I'm not sure that OCGT has been built in the UK for years, as CCGT is much more efficient.

I can't answer the "where" but there are quite a few small OCGT "peaker plants". I wouldn't be surprised or concerned if some of these were being replaced or even expanded.

Apparently the way we use our existing fleet, the average efficiency is only 49% and this would only fall as gas stations are turned on and off even more 

That's an interesting point. So using them less, harms overall average efficiency. Totally guessing, but I'd assume OCGT reach upper efficiencies faster, since they dial up so fast. Of course, that higher efficiency is still lower than CCGT, but if CCGT gets less efficient as its role diminishes, then the numbers get closer together, especially if CCGT is now already not that far ahead of the OCGT 35% to 45% figures..

Perhaps that's another reason why OCGT total capacity is suggested to rise as CCGT falls. Guess we'll get to see what happens in the 2030's as technology changes to adapt to the new normal.

QrizB

Here's a CleanTechnica story about Pakistan and how they added 22gWp of solar PV last year:

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/04/pakistans-22-gw-solar-shock-how-a-fragile-state-went-full-clean-energy/

Pakistan isn’t the first country you’d expect to crash the global solar party. But by the end of 2024, it quietly rocketed into the top tier of solar adopters, importing a jaw-dropping 22 gigawatts worth of solar panels in a single year. That’s not a typo or a spreadsheet rounding error. That’s the kind of number that turns heads at IEA meetings and makes policy analysts double-check their databases. It certainly made me sit up and take notice when I first heard about what was happening in mid-2024.

It’s more solar than Canada has installed in total. It’s more than the UK added in the past five years. And yet it didn’t make a blip in most Western media. While the U.S. continued its decade-long existential crisis about grid interconnection queues and Europe squabbled over permitting reforms, Pakistan skipped the drama and just bought the panels.

More at the link.

Coastalwatch

Announced 14hours ago! Couldn't believe it till I checked and sure enough it was on 8th April at 00.01. 

Anyway great news and long awaited as there's appears plenty of potential for it within the UK.

Ofgem super-charges UK clean power storage

A new era for renewable energy in the UK begins today as Ofgem launches a scheme to accelerate the development of long-duration electricity storage (LDES) projects for the first time in 40 years.

Ofgem's new “cap and floor” investment support scheme will unlock billions of pounds in funding to build LDES projects, which provide vital back-up for the renewable power system.

https://renews.biz/99899/ofgem-super-charges-uk-clean-power-storage/