Western States Still Lag In Power Plant Construction

from "Platt's Power News Newsletter" 08/11/05

Same song, second verse

Utilities in the Western region don't have enough planned resources to meet rising demand over the next ten years, according to a report released by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).

Nearly 10,000 MW is under construction in the West, and another 15,200 MW has been proposed, the report said. The WECC expects nearly 3,650 MW to be retired in the next ten years.

If all the proposed generation is built, the region will likely have adequate generating supplies, the report said. About 62% of the new generation is coming from independent power producers, the report said. By 2014, IPPs will account for 51% of the generation in the California-Mexico Power Area and 34% throughout the WECC region. The WECC region had nearly 190,000 MW in generating capacity at the end of 2004, up 2% from a year earlier.

Almost 82%, or 20,600 MW, of the new generation in the WECC region is expected to come from natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants. WECC cautioned that although gas supplies are expected to be adequate, the region is vulnerable to supply disruptions. "Area-wide interruption of gas supply during extreme cold weather and high electricity demand can pose an electric supply reliability problem," the report said.

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"Despite a slight increase in proposed new generation during the past year, reported generating capacity additions in the region may not be sufficient to reliably supply the forecast firm peak demand and energy requirements throughout the assessment period," the 10-year planning report said.

California is always the focus of attention. About 6,780 MW are slated to be added in the state in the next ten years, but 10,700 MW are needed to reach a 13% reserve margin, the report said.

The report is available on WECC's website at: http://www.wecc.biz.

You won't find this kind of in-depth reporting in any other power industry newsletter.

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