Dynegy recently announced construction plans for two separate500 MW facilities in the Southeast, making a reality of its promiseto increase its power asset portfolio in the area. With thesefacilities, one located in Heard County, GA and the other locatedin Oldham County, KY, Dynegy will increase its Southeast energyassets from three to five.

“The Southeast is one of the fastest growing markets in thecountry for power sales. Dynegy will meet the growing wholesaledemands by increasing its owned and controlled generation capacityin this region by several thousand MW in the next three years.”said Chuck Watson, CEO of Dynegy.

Both plants will cost an estimated $100 million each. The powergenerated from the facilities will be marketed to investor-ownedutilities, electric cooperatives and municipalities. Although bothfacilities have gained approval from local authorities, each stillneeds state and regulatory approval before construction can start.

“Current capacity shortfalls, transmission constraints that arenot being addressed because of uncertainty associated withindependent system operators and forecasts showing that demand willbe greater than capacity over the next five years make the[Southeast] region attractive to new market entrants,” Watson said.

On March 10, Dynegy announced a local commission approved plansto construct the Heard County plant. It is scheduled to commenceoperations in the second quarter of 2001. It will include three167-MW simple-cycle combustion turbines and the 90 MMcf/d of gasneeded to power the plant will be delivered through the TranscoPipeline.

Last week, the company said it gained approval from a localcourt to build the Bluegrass Generation facility in Oldham County,KY. The Bluegrass facility will start in the summer of 2001. Atmaximum capacity, it’s three simple cycle gas turbines will need120 MMcf/d to run. Gas will be delivered through the Texas GasTransmission Pipeline.

In addition to these two plants, Dynegy is also planning toconstruct a 600 MW peaking facility in Rockingham County, NC.Overall, Dynegy’s 32 generation assets that are currently operatingor in final development have a combined capacity of 7,300 MW.

John Norris

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