Czech Počerady CCGT plant to double electricity output year on year as gas begins to compete with hard coal

The Počerady combined-cycle gas turbine plant has generated more than 3.3 TWh of electricity this year, already nearly double the output recorded in each of the previous three years. The plant’s higher utilisation is also reflected in this year’s installed capacity utilisation factor, which exceeded 51 % in the first ten months.

The Počerady combined-cycle gas turbine plant’s output is breaking records this year. Thanks to favourable prices on commodity markets, it has already generated more than 3.3 TWh of electricity this year. Compared with the previous three years, when its output stood at around 1.7 TWh, the plant’s generation will therefore more than double.

Conditions for electricity generation from natural gas are now much more favourable. For example, while in 2016 the plant generated mainly during unplanned outages at nuclear power plants due to weld inspections, this year its generation is profitable thanks to a higher gross margin (the clean spark spread).