Ninety-three gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired generation are currently under consideration in the United States, representing 153 coal-fired power plants, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported last week. This anticipated new supply represents a $136 billion investment and shows the power sector’s growing interest in the energy source is not just a passing fancy.

A database that tracks proposals for new coal-fired power plants has recently been updated by the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The report is dated June 21.

In late 2005, NETL issued an analysis showing a need for about 87 GW of new coal-fired power generation by 2025, with about 124 coal-fired power plants under consideration.

According to the DOE’s Energy Information Administration, 154 GW of new coal capacity is projected to be needed by 2030, NETL noted last week.

Proposals to build new power plants are often speculative and the ultimate decision on whether a plant will be built is based upon the ever-changing economic climate of regional power generation markets, NETL said.

In highlighting the fluidity of power generation planning, NETL noted that out of a total portfolio (gas, coal, etc.) of 500 GW of newly planned power plant capacity announced in 2001, 91 GW has already been scrapped or delayed.

“Although comprehensive, this information is not intended to represent every possible plant under consideration, but instead illustrates the large potential emerging for new coal-fired power plants,” NETL noted.

NETL created the database in 2002 and it is updated every few months as new information is obtained on proposed new coal-fired power plants. The results contained in the database are derived from information publicly available from a variety of tracking organizations and news groups.

Higher natural gas prices and a growing interest in fuel diversity for power generation is driving a major resurgence in plans to develop coal-fired power plants, Scott Klara, deputy director for the DOE’s Office of Coal and Power at DOE’s NETL, told NGI in an interview last November (see NGI, Nov. 21, 2005).

For more information, go to: https://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/index.html.

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