There is a shorthand in the power biz to quickly figure this out. Plant efficiencies are communicated in heat rate.A run-of-the-mill relatively common combined cycle natural gas plant will have around a 7,000 btu/kwh heat rate - or simply it will consume 7,000 btu of natural gas for every kwh produced.Running a 100 MW plant for 24 hours is 2,400 MWh or 2,400,000 kwh.7,000 btu/kwh times 2,400,000 kwh is 16,800,000,000 btu. To avoid these enormous numbers we use MMBTU (millions of btu). So, this translates to 16,800 MMBTU of fuel.At a gas price of ~3 $/MMBTU now days this would run you around $50k in fuel costs for the day - or meaning you need to sell your power for at least 21 $/MW (just multiply heat rate times fuel cost) to break even.
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