Power Stations
(asked on 10th December 2014) - View Source
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the dispatch period required to increase capacity at (a) nuclear, (b) combined cycle gas turbine, (c) open cycle gas turbine and (d) coal-fired power stations.
A report by independent energy consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff commissioned by this Department considers the flexibility of coal and gas power technologies:
The table below contains information from the report and shows indicative start up times for coal, existing and modern gas combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) and large and aero-derivative open cycle gas turbines (OCGT):
Technology | Notice to Synch* (mins) | Synch to Full Load (mins) | |
Hot Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 80-90 15 15 2-5 | 50-100 35-80 25 15-30 |
Warm Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 300 15 15 2-5 | 85 80 - 15-30 |
Cold Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 360-420 15 15 2-5 | 80-250 190-240 190 15-30 |
All Starts | Gas (Aero) OCGT | 2-5 | 4-8 |
*‘Notice to Synch’ is the period of prior notice that a power plant requires to be able to start up the plant to the point of synchronisation.
The current nuclear fleet is not specifically designed for load following and generally plants will operate at their full nominal load. Plants that are offline for maintenance or refuelling will not usually be available to come back on line rapidly as there are a number of safety requirements that must be observed on re-start.