Introduction
In recent years, the UK power sector has seen owners and/or
operators of generation assets increasingly reflect on their
commercial strategies with respect to their operations. In the case
of power plants, this has involved a consideration of divestment or
strategies for optimising these assets. This focus on the
efficiency and optimisation of assets has been a key feature for
market participants in the past few years, and has also facilitated
the increased diversification of market entrants.
One of the primary objectives for an existing owner/operator, or
an entity acquiring such an asset (Owner) will be to achieve
optimal monetisation – maximising the gross margin from
selling a unit of electricity in relation to the available capacity
of a power plant. This is more commonly referred to as the
"clean dark spread" (in the case of coal-fired
generation), or "clean spark spread" (in the case of
gas-fired generation).
