There's also a hybrid approach: generate electricity and also reuse heat for centralised heating. This can reach 60% efficiency as far as I remember but might require building plants closer to heat consumers.
This is common in parts of Europe, an electric power station supplies hot water to apartment buildings via underground tubes. In fact, there's one near me where the pipes cross a bridge!
The water isn't quite as hot as it needs to be when it arrives, so it's heated additionally in the building itself.
The article mentions a similar approach, with steam instead of water:
> They also purchase additional steam from a 322 megawatt plant in Brooklyn
Isn't it actually like (100% - tranfer loses) efficiency ?
In modern co-generation you can for example burn gas in a gas turbine & produce electricity. Then heat water to steam with the gas turbine exhaust & power a steam turbine to get more electricity. And then the steam is condensed by the district heating water loop.
So in theory you will get more electricity & almost all the "waste" heat is used to heat houses.
