(70) Therefore, the risk of sulphuric acid dew point attack ... - DTI Home

6.4.1.2 Fluctuations in the Price of Natural Gas
Recently investors have been dissuaded from investing in CCGT plant by the
volatility in the price of natural gas. Price volatility results in difficulties in
reliably forecasting the overall costs occurred over the entire operating life of
the combined cycle plant.
6.4.1.3 Current Unpredictability of the UK Retrofit Market
With little in the way of large new-build utility plants in the UK, the market
for upgrading existing facilities within the country must be the primary focus.
The effects of flexible operation are becoming more and more apparent to
operators, so the potential for upgrade opportunities is large. However with
flexibility upgrades on drainage, pressure parts and casings expected to be
between £100k and £400k per HRSG, the depth of the market remains
uncertain. Factors within the operators market as a direct result of deregulation
suggest that the availability of finances to fund these upgrades is questionable.
6.4.2 UK Industrial CHP Market
The annual Directory of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) for 2001 gives
various data for CHP schemes in the UK. The data is gathered through the
Government’s CHP quality assurance scheme. The majority of schemes are
fuelled with natural gas (61%), with fuel oil accounting for 7%, 2% from
renewables and the balance from various process exhausts or by-product fuels.
The majority of the 1573 schemes are small, but generating capacity is
dominated by the minority of larger schemes.
Electrical capacity size % of total number of % of total generating
range
schemes
capacity
< 100 kWe 43.2 0.9
100 kWe – 999 kWe 40.1 3.2
1 MWe – 9.9 MWe 12.1 16.2
> 10 MWe 4.6 79.7
Table 9: CHP Schemes by size, 2001.
Figure 38 below shows the installed CHP capacity in the UK for the last 5
years.
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