In message , Andy Dingley
writes
On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 20:01:40 +0000, news07 wrote:

Your typical coal fired station like Drax or Didcot will be around 36%
efficient.

Didcot isn't quite typical - it has long been used as a technology
demonstrator for the latest in efficient turbine technologies.
Erm I worked at Didcot A (the coal fired one) for several years and the
turbines there weren't anything special, run of the mill Parsons built
AEI design. Over the fence at the gas fired B station it was the launch
site for the Siemens V94.3a gas turbine which was pretty advanced in the
mid-1990's but technology has moved on. Typically we refer to gas
turbines in classes, the machines at Didcot B are F class, the GE
machine at Baglan Bay is H class (there are G class machines out there
but not many, mainly in the USA and Japan).

Rugeley is just about the most efficient coal fired station in the UK,
used to regularly win awards when the industry was nationalised.
--
Andrew Sinclair http://www.smellycat.org