Indicator Assessment

Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity generation

Indicator Assessment

Prod-ID: IND-121-en

Also known as: ENER 019

Published 30 Apr 2012 Last modified 11 May 2021

19 min read

This is an old version, kept for reference only.

Go to latest version

Topics: Energy

This page was archived on 01 Jan 2015 with reason: Other (New version data-and-maps/indicators/efficiency-of-conventional-thermal-electricity-generation-3 was published)

The efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power plants improved between 1990 and 2009 by 5.5 percentage points (from 45.4% in 1990 to 50.9% in 2009). Between 1990 and 2005, the improvement was even greater at 7.0 percentage points (from 45.4% in 1990 to 52.4% in 2005). The improvement until 2005 was due to the closure of old inefficient plants, improvements in existing technologies, often combined with a switch from coal power plants to more efficient combined cycle gas-turbines. Between 2005 and 2009, there was a decline in efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power plants of 1.5 percentage points (from 52.4% in 2005 to 50.9% in 2009) because of lower heat production.

Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production

Note: Output from conventional thermal power stations consists of gross electricity generation and also of any heat sold to third parties (combined heat and power plants) by conventional thermal public utility power stations as well as autoproducer thermal power stations. The figure on the left is including district heat and the figure on the right is excluding district heat. Left figure: Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production (including district heat). Right figure: Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production (excluding district heat)

Data source:

Eurostat 2010 (historical data), http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

Output from public thermal power stations - Supply, transformation, consumption:

Electricity
Heat
All products

Downloads and more info

Efficiency (electricity and heat) production from conventional thermal plants, 1990, 2009

Note: The EEA efficiencies exclude Iceland (and Croatia) (for conventional) and Iceland and Norway (and Croatia) (for public conventional). Iceland is missing because there is no data in Eurostat this year. Croatia was included last year but has been excluded because it is not part of EEA32. For Norway its efficiency is above 100% in 1990 because the electricity consumed for heating is not considered as an input, although the heating from electric boilers is considered in total output. Swedish conventional and public conventional efficiencies are above 100% in some years (when including district heating), but not in 1990 or in 2009, so Sweden is included in the charts.

Data source:

Eurostat 2010 (historical data), http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

Output from public thermal power stations - Supply, transformation, consumption:

Electricity
Heat
All products

Downloads and more info

Efficiency (electricity and heat) from public conventional thermal plants, 1990, 2009

Data source:

Eurostat 2010 (historical data), http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

Output from public thermal power stations - Supply, transformation, consumption:

Electricity
Heat
All products

Downloads and more info

Efficiency (electricity and heat) from autoproducers conventional thermal plants, 1990, 2009

Note: Due to inconsistencies in the Eurostat data set Bulgaria, Greece, Lithunia, and Slovenia are excluded for all years (efficiencies >100%). For Cyprus, Iceland and Malta data on autoproducers is not available, therefore they are also excluded for all years. Croatia is excluded because it is not part of EEA32.

Data source:

Eurostat 2010 (historical data), http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

Output from public thermal power stations - Supply, transformation, consumption:

Electricity
Heat
All products

Downloads and more info

The average energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production iof conventional thermal powerstations and district heating plants in the EU-27 improved over the period 1990 and 2009 by 5.5 percentage points to reach 50.9% in 2009 (49.5 % excluding district heating). The main increase was seen between 1990 and 2005 with an increase of 7.0 percentage points (from 45.4% in 1990 to 52.4% in 2005). Between 2005 and 2009, there was a decline in efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power plants and district heating plants of 1.5 percentage points (from 52.4% in 2005 to 50.9% in 2009) because of lower heat production (Figure 1a and 1b). In Figure 1a and 1b, the drop in 2007 is due to increased electrical energy output from conventional thermal power stations in UK, Germany and Turkey.
For public thermal power plants the average efficiency increased in most EU-27 countries over the period 1990-2009, resulting in a net efficiency of 49.9% in 2009 (48.2% excluding district heating). Between 1990 and 2005, the average energy efficiency of public thermal power plants increased by 5.8 percentage points (from 44.6% in 1990 to 50.4% in 2005). Between 2005 and 2009, the average energy efficiency of public thermal power plants decreased by 0.6 percentage points (from 50.4% in 2005 to 49.9% in 2009).For autoproducers the average efficiency also increased in most EU-27 countries over the period 1990-2009, resulting in a net efficiency of 59.2 % by 2009. Between 1990 and 2005 the average energy efficiency of autoproducers increased by 16.3 percentage points (from 50.6% in 1990 to 66.9% in 2005).The higher efficiency for autoproducers is largely explained by the fact that the installations of autoproducers are often designed to be more suitable for the heat and electricity demand on a location. (See Figure 2b and Figure 2c). There was a fall in efficiency between 2005 and 2009 by 7.7 percentage points (from 66.9% in 2005 to 59.2% in 2009).
Although overall improvements in electricity and heat generation efficiency were seen over the period 1990 to 2009, a marginal stagnation in the late 1990s and a decline in efficiency in the last three years was observed. This was due primarily to an increased utilisation of existing lower efficiency coal plants (see ENER 27).
The positive impacts on the environment (particularly decreased emissions) from the efficiency improvement in the electricity production, may be offset by the fast increase in electricity consumption, which is growing at an average rate of 1.2 % per year since 1990 (see ENER 18), especially considering that over half of this electricity (51.3 % in 2009) is produced from coal, gas and oil (see ENER 27)[1].

[1] Specific details of emission levels from electricity generating plants can be obtained for a variety of pollutants at the European Pollutant Emission Register.

The growth in the use of combined cycle gas turbine plants (CCGT) has been an important factor in improving efficiency in the EU-15 Member States. CCGT plants can achieve conversion efficiencies in the order of 60%, with the prospect of even higher efficiencies in future power plants. However, continued improvements have also been made in conventional coal generation with plants capable of efficiencies in the range 40-45% (for instance in Denmark), and further advances that may allow this to exceed 50% (IEA, 2005).
CHP provides a large potential for increasing efficiency of electricity production and reduction of CO₂ emissions (see ENER 20). Decentralised CHP could bring about larger benefits as a recent study carried out in the UK shows (ICE 2009). Acording to this study, decentralised, gas-fired CHP plants could deliver energy with a carbon content of about 300gCO₂/kWh compared with 501gCO₂/kWh which was the average in the UK (given its specifc fuel mix) in 2007. These benefits are additional to further savings of about 5gCO₂/kWh compared to a modern combined cycle gas turbine.

Larger benefits (fuel savings, environmental benefits, efficiency) could also be achieved by using CHP combined with district heating and cooling. In Europe there are currently some 5000 district heating systems supplying some 9% of the total EU-27 heat demand, with Nordic countries having the highest penetration rate of district heating, but with Poland and Germany having the largest amount of district heating delivery. In cities like Copenhagen, Helsinki, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga as much as 90% of residential heat demands are satisfied by district heating. The European share of district heating in industry is about 3.5% with higher shares (10-15%) in Hungary, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, and Czech Republic. District cooling currently has a share of 2% of total cooling market in Europe (some 3TWh) but this share is increasing fast (over the last decade the growth in installed capacity increased ten fold). Sweden for instance is expected to reach a 25% district cooling market share for commercial and institutional buildings in two to three years time.Cities that have reached or are on the way towards reaching 50% district cooling shares include Paris, Helsinki, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Vienna, Barcelona, Copenhagen (DHC+technology platform, 2009).

At the beginning of the 1990s, the energy sector particularly in the new EU Member States was characterised by low generation efficiencies due to obsolete plant technology. However, in the second half of the 1990s investments were made to improve the performance of existing plants which led to efficiency improvements particularly in the new Member States. See Figure 2a (see also ENER 11). Between 1990 and 2009, the greatest efficiency improvements in both electricity and electricity and heat production (including district heating) for conventional thermal powerstations and district heating plants, occurred in Luxembourg with a difference of 30.3% (construction of a new CCGT), France (16.4%) and the Netherlands (15.1%). Decreases in the efficiency of electricity and heat production were seen in Switzerland, Estonia, Bulgaria and Norway between 1990 and 2009, however, there are sizeable fluctuations which indicate these data may be less reliable (See Figure 1 and 2a).
Among the EEA, non-EU countries, Turkey registered the highest efficiency gain for conventional thermal powerstations and district heating plants. For Turkey the efficiency increased in 2009 by 11.0% compared to 1990.
Efficiencies of fossil-fired electricity and heat production in different countries have been compared in a recent study (Ecofys, 2007). It appears that efficiencies in European countries (France, UK, Ireland, Nordic countries and Germany) are higher than the worldwide average. When the worldwide average is set at 100%, efficiencies in India and China are typically 15–19% lower than those in the investigated European countries. The efficiencies in the USA are 1% below the average level.

Supporting information

Indicator definition

Output from conventional thermal power stations consists of gross electricity generation and also of any heat sold to third parties (combined heat and power plants) by conventional thermal public utility power stations as well as autoproducer thermal power stations. The energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production (which includes both public plants and autoproducers) is defined as the ratio of electricity and heat production to the energy input as a fuel. Fuels include solid fuels (i.e. coal, lignite and equivalents, oil and other liquid hydrocarbons, gas, thermal renewables (industrial and municipal waste, wood waste, biogas and geothermal energy) and other non-renewable waste.

Units

Units: Fuel input and electrical and heat output are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe)
Efficiency is measured as the ratio of fuel output to input (%)

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

The majority of thermal generation is produced using fossil fuels but can also include biomass, wastes and geothermal and nuclear. Associated environmental impacts at the point of energy generation are mainly related to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, other environmental impacts, additional to the ones previously mentioned, such as land use change, biodiversity loss, ground water pollution, oil spills in the marine environment, etc, occur during upstream activities of producing and transporting the primary resources or final waste disposal. Whilst the level of environmental impact depends on the particular type of fuel used and the extent to which abatement technologies are being employed, the greater the efficiency of the power plant, the lower the environmental impact for each unit of electricity produced (assuming that the increase in efficiency leads to an absolute decrease of fossil fuel input).

Scientific references

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

The indicator shows the efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal plants. A distinction is made between public (i.e. main activity producers), thermal plants and autoproducers. Public thermal plants mainly produce electricity (and heat) for public use. Autoproducers produce electricity (and heat) for private use, for instance in industrial processes.

The efficiency of electricity and heat production is an important factor since losses in transformation account for a substantial part of the primary energy consumption (see ENER 11). Higher efficiency of production therefore results in substantial reductions in primary energy consumption, hence reduction of environmental pressures due to avoided energy production. However, the overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel (see ENER 27) and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06).

Compliance with environmental legislation (for example the Large Combustion Plant Directive 2001/80/EC, the CARE package, etc) requires the application of a series of abatement technologies (e.g. to reduce SO₂ emissions requires retrofitting the plant with flue-gas desulphurisation technology, carbon capture and storage to capture CO₂ emissions, etc) increasing the energy consumption of the plant, thus reducing its efficiency. This is why it is important to promote highly efficient generation units, such as IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle), which can operate at higher efficiencies.

Policy context

Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20 % reduction in greenhouse gases and a 20 % share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020. The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents:

Directive 2009/29/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community
Directive 2009/31/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide
Directive 2009/28/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01)
Directive 2008/101/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas Emission allowance trading within the community
Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂emissions from light-duty vehicles

Communication from the Commission; COM(2008) 771 final. The main objectives of this communication are to report on the current status of the combined heat and power generation (CHP or cogeneration), and to present possibilities for its development.

Detailed guidelines for the implementation and application of Annex II to Directive 2004/8/EC; 2008/952/EC. Guidelines for the calculation of the electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration.

Action Plan for Energy Efficiency: Realising the Potential ( COM(2006) 545).The Commission will develop minimum binding energy efficiency requirements for electricity generation facilities, heating and cooling for facilities operating with less than 20 megawatts of power, and possibly for more powerful facilities too (not published yet).

Directive on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants; Directive 2001/80/EC. Aims to control emissions of SO_x, NO_x and particulate matter from large (>50MW) combustion plants and hence favours the use of higher efficiency CCGT as opposed to coal plants.

Targets

No targets have been specified

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Average annual rate of growth calculated using: [(last year / base year) ^ (1/number of years) - 1]*100

Efficiency of electricity and heat production = (electrical output + heat output)/fuel input
The coding (used in the Eurostat New Cronos database) and specific components of the indicator are:

Numerator:

Electricity output from conventional thermal power stations 101101 (6000 electrical energy) + Heat output from conventional thermal power stations 101101 (5200 derived heat)
Electricity output from public thermal power stations 101121 (6000 electrical energy) + Heat output from public thermal power stations 101121 (5200 derived heat)
Electricity output from autoproducer thermal power station 101122 (6000 electrical energy) + Heat output from autoproducer thermal power station 101122 (5200 derived heat)

Denominator:

Input to conventional thermal power stations 101001 (0000 all products)
Input to public thermal power stations 101021 (0000 all products)
Input to autoproducer thermal power stations 101022 (0000 all products)

Data collected annually.

Eurostat metadata for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/metadata

Geographical coverage:
The Agency had 32 member countries at the time of writing of this fact sheet. These are the 27 European Union Member States and Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Total: Norway, displays efficiencies higher than 100% for thermal generation due to the extensive use of electric boilers for heat production. In the Eurostat statistics, the heat is included in the output, while the electricity input is not. For power plants the consumption of electricity is attributed to the energy sector while partly may be in fact used as input for heat. For these reasons, Norway was excluded from the calculations

Public: Norway is excluded as the data was considered unreliable, giving efficiencies ≥ 100%. Autoprocucers: Bulgaria, Greece, Lithunia, and Slovenia are excluded as they were considered unreliable, giving efficiencies ≥ 100%. No autoproducers data was available for Cyprus, Iceland and Malta

Temporal coverage: 1990-2009.

Methodology for gap filling

No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

The efficiency of electricity production is calculated as the ratio of electricity output to the total fuel input. However, the input to conventional thermal power plants cannot be disaggregated into separate input for heat and input for electricity production. Therefore the efficiency rate of electricity and heat production equals the ratio of both electricity and heat production to fuel input, which assumes there is an efficiency rate for heat production.
Also, electricity data (unlike that for overall energy consumption) for 1990 refers to the western part of Germany only, so there is a break in the series from 1990-1992.
There are also slight differences in the calculation of efficiencies between the historical and projected data. In contrast to the Eurostat data, the projections take into account non -marketed steam, i.e. steam generated - either in boilers or in CHP plants - and used on site by industrial consumers. The calculation of projected efficiencies therefore takes into account both the non-marketed steam generated in CHP units as well as the corresponding fuel input whereas the calculation of historical efficiencies excludes both these components.

Data sets uncertainty

Strengths and weaknesses (at data level)
Data have been traditionally compiled by Eurostat through the annual Joint Questionnaires, shared by Eurostat and the International Energy Agency, following a well established and harmonised methodology. Methodological information on the annual Joint Questionnaires and data compilation can be found in Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statistics.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/metadata See also information related to the Energy Statistics Regulation http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/introduction

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Data sources

National emissions reported to the UNFCCC and to the EU Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism
provided by Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) , United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Energy statistics (Eurostat)
provided by Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)

Other info

DPSIR: Driving force
Typology: Efficiency indicator (Type C - Are we improving?)

Indicator codes

ENER 019

EEA Contact Info info@eea.europa.eu

Permalinks

Permalink to this version: f48d3a35-ee34-4451-8c83-63c742aee30b
Permalink to latest version: IND-121-en

Older versions

08 Aug 2011 - Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity generation

14 Sep 2010 - Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity generation

27 Nov 2008 - EN19 Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production

22 May 2007 - EN19 Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production

Geographic coverage

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom

Temporal coverage

1990-2009

For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/efficiency-of-conventional-thermal-electricity-generation/efficiency-of-conventional-thermal-electricity-3 or scan the QR code.

PDF generated on 19 Apr 2024, 11:52 PM

Dates

First draft created:

29 Mar 2012, 09:32 AM

Publish date:

30 Apr 2012, 02:04 PM

Last modified:

11 May 2021, 11:51 AM

Topics

Topics: Energy