Combined cycles

About

Natural gas combined cycles are power plants for generating electricity where the thermal energy of natural gas is turned into electricity by means of two consecutive cycles: that of a conventional gas turbine and that of a steam turbine.

This type of plant is characterised by the use it makes of heat generated in the combustion of the gas turbine , which is taken to a heat recovery element and used to move one or more steam turbines. These two gas and steam turbines are connected to a common alternator which converts the mechanical energy generated by the turbines into electrical energy.

Our data
In 2019, Naturgy’s combined-cycle power plants generated 7.4 GW in Spain and 2.4 GW in Mexico. Naturgy controls and operates the most efficient set of combined-cycle power plants in
Spain and in the best locations. Good positioning in Spain and Latin America enables us to harness power generation investment opportunities.
More sustainable
Combined cycles are the technology for producing electricity from fossil fuels with fewer associated CO² emissions. In 2019, we avoided the emission of 85.3 Mt CO2 mostly thanks to the lower emission factor of combined cycles.

Climate change
More efficient
Combined cycles produce energy in two stages. In the first, they generate electricity through the direct combustion of natural gas. In the second, they make use of the residual gases, which are still hot, to generate steam from water that moves a turbine to produce more energy.

Almost half of the energy produced, with combined-cycle power plants

Our net energy production in Spain in 2019 stood at over 25,000 GWh, of which 14,538 GWh -over half- were in combined cycles.

58% of power generation capacity

Our electricity generation capacity mainly consists of natural gas combined cycle plants accounting for almost 58% of the installed power capacity.