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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Power Generation and Power Plants

Gas turbine

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

nounCommon term

In energy & renewables, gas turbine means: An engine that burns gas, usually natural gas, and uses the hot expanding gases to spin a turbine connected to a generator. It can start and change output quickly.

In Turkish: gaz türbini

How it is used

Used alone in open-cycle peaking plants (OCGT) or with a steam turbine in combined cycle plants. Gas turbines are started, loaded and sometimes tripped; inspections are planned by operating hours. Some models can burn hydrogen blends.

Example sentences

  1. The open-cycle gas turbine can reach full load in about ten minutes.

  2. We scheduled the gas turbine overhaul for the low-demand season.

Common collocations

  • open-cycle gas turbine
  • gas turbine overhaul
  • start the gas turbine
  • hydrogen-ready gas turbine
  • combined cycleA plant design in which a gas turbine generates electricity and its hot exhaust makes steam for a steam turbine, which generates more electricity from the same fuel.
  • steam turbineA machine in which high-pressure steam flows over rows of blades and turns a shaft connected to a generator. Coal, nuclear, geothermal and many biomass plants use one.
  • natural gasA fossil fuel made mostly of methane, burned in power plants, industry and homes. It emits less CO2 than coal for the same electricity, but it is still a fossil fuel.
  • ramp upTo increase the output of a power plant, or the level of an activity, steadily over a short time. The opposite is ramp down.
  • dispatchableDescribing a power source whose output can be started, raised or lowered on request, such as gas, reservoir hydro or batteries, unlike weather-dependent solar and wind.

More terms: Power Generation and Power Plants

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