Gas-fired power plants in the US reached record utilization last summer

Thanks to substantial domestic production and limited export capacity, the United States was not exposed to as extreme a surge in natural gas prices last year as Europe, while its gas turbines were used intensively over the summer. According to the U.S. government agency, the capacity factor of gas turbines exceeded 20% for two consecutive months last summer due to strong demand for electricity, a first in history.

Unlike combined-cycle plants, which combine a gas turbine cycle with a steam cycle, simple-cycle gas-fired power plants are less efficient and are therefore generally operated during periods of peak demand, when the available capacity of combined-cycle plants has often already been exhausted.

Simple-cycle gas-fired plants are also well suited to meeting peak loads because of their greater operational flexibility, allowing them to respond more quickly to the grid’s needs as electricity demand or supply changes, particularly supply from intermittent renewable sources.