[Doofus McFancypants]

Hey - I to am in the power industry ( only 12 years though)..

The current base load power plants running simple cycle gas turbines are operating in the 40 - 50% thermal efficiency range ( depending on the age of the equipment and how advanced it is).

the "BEST" domestically produces power plant efficiency (operating in Combined Cycle) is going for 60% thermal efficiency. This is usign Steam as part of the hot gas path cooling loop to increase efficiency - advanced materials and coatings for the hot sections - even making 12 inch long blades out of a single granular crystal of material.

These are not IDEAL but are what the Gas Turbines are operating at.

I do not know the relative efficiency of the Aeroderiviative units. Probably a little worse but not a TON worse. IN the power world - the aerodrivative engines are awsome for Reliability as well as start time ( full load operation in 7 minutes) may not seem like much to Non-power people - but to get the HP rotor spinning up to +10,000 RPM and get 60 MW on the grid from a stopped rotor is fast.

Micro turbines were the RAGE a decade ago - then kinda went away.
From an efficiency point of view - when you get smaller in size - the Tip Losses start becomming a larger % of the equation ( Tip losses cover the ability to completely limit airflow Around the ends of the blades - where no work is extracted - compared to air going through the blades - and doing work).

Steve