Fuel economy drive favors gas turbine power systems. [To provide peak-load and reserve capacity]

The integration of gas turbines into the generating capacity of utilities offers the opportunity to reduce fuel costs and provide a good return on investment. Projections of $21/year are made by Westinghouse as the rate of return needed for each $100 of capital expenditure this year. Utilities, having no control over fuel costs, interest rates, or inflation, can only save by having a fuel mix that minimizes capital costs. Low-cost open-cycle gas turbines are an economic way to provide the peak load and reserve capacity that involves 25 percent of the generating capacity and provides only five percent of the output of large systems. Combined-cycle gas turbines offer economic capital and operating costs for base loads of intermediate-size plants. In addition, they are efficient, quickly constructed, and environmentally acceptable. Tabulations of the economic break-even points for capital investment, fuel, operating cost, and maintenance cost for several generating systems illustrate the advantages of incorporating gas turbines. One of the more attractive uses of gas turbines is for repowering (utilization of exhaust energy) in existing facilities. (DCK)