Heat rate to efficiency converter
Convert a heat rate in BTU, kJ or kcal per kWh to the thermal efficiency of a power plant, engine or generator, and back.
That's 1.11× as efficient as a supercritical coal plant, while a combined-cycle gas plant is 1.23× more efficient. Every kWh of electricity burns 2.051 kWh of fuel.
What it means
How efficient is that?
On the fuel’s heating value as given (HHV in the US, usually LHV in Europe); the same plant is about 10 % “more efficient” on LHV for natural gas.
Every unit
That plant in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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Divide 3,412
Efficiency = 3,412 ÷ heat rate in BTU/kWh, or 3,600 ÷ heat rate in kJ/kWh.
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Why utilities count backwards
Fuel is bought in BTU and electricity sold in kWh, so the ratio of the two bills became the plant’s report card long before anyone quoted percent.
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Lower is better
A heat rate going up means a plant got worse: more fuel for the same kWh.
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Popular efficiency conversions
Background
About heat rate
Power plants are compared by heat rate: the fuel energy burned for each kilowatt-hour sent out. One kWh is 3,412 BTU, so a plant needing 10,000 BTU/kWh turns 34 % of its fuel into electricity and the rest into heat.
A modern combined-cycle gas plant runs near 6,000 BTU/kWh, about 57–60 %; old coal plants sit above 10,000.