Talking about the future for gas plant, GE’s vice-president for Europe, Mic­hael Rechsteiner, says: “The installed base has a very important role for decades to come.” It would take 50 years before renewables had reached the point where fossil was not needed in the market at all, he says. Nevertheless, he expects to see the roles filled by fossil plants changing. And in a new spin on providing flexibility to the system from fossil sites, he says that in future, when selling or upgrading gas plant, “we want to give [customers] the option of pairing with a battery”.