One new gas-fired power plant will become operational every three days over the next two years, according to a new assessment by Arlington, VA-based consulting firm Energy Ventures Analysis Inc. (EVA). More than 367,000 MW of new gas-fired generation is either in operation, construction or active development, a 7% increase over last quarter, EVA said in its report, “Tracking the Boom of New Power Plants in the U.S.”

“In 1998 the industry was looking to build 50,000 MW [of] total capacity and there was debate over how much of that would actually be built,” said A. Michael Schaal, senior analyst with EVA. “Today, over 60,000 MW has already been built with another 300,000 MW under active development.”

EVA’s Tom Hewson said the huge gas price increases last winter had little affect on gas-fired power plant planning or development. Since December there has been a continual growth in new project announcements that has increased the amount of new capacity expected to be built between 2001 and 2007 by 95,600 MW, EVA said.

The gas price increases did trigger a sudden flurry of new coal-fired power plant announcements, but some those announcements have slowed as gas prices have declined this year, said Hewson. “We haven’t seen as many coal plant announcements as we saw earlier in the year,” he said. The total of all coal-fired projects being tracked by EVA currently totals more than 31,000 MW.

For more information on EVA’s report, contact A. Michael Schaal at (703) 276-8900.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.