Florida’s electric utilities plan to add more than 10,580 MW ofnew generating capacity between now and 2007 to meet surgingdemand, the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council told thestate’s Public Service Commission.

The capacity will come from repowering existing units andbuilding 28 new electric generating plants with a total capacity of5,750 MW. Much of the repowering and almost all of the 28 newgenerating units will be fired by natural gas. Repowering existingunits, most of which burn gas and coal, will account for about4,830 MW of the 10,500 MW total, the Florida ReliabilityCoordinating Council said. Most of the new generation will berequested by individual utilities via a national solicitationprocess, making the new units open to full competition.

The figures were contained in the Florida ReliabilityCoordinating Council’s “1998 Regional Load and Resource Plan,”submitted to and now under detailed review by the Florida PublicService Commission. Florida’s electricity demand is growingstrong, about 2.4% annually. But not all of Florida’s key utilitieswill add significant capacity. In descending order of new capacityplanned, the state’s utilities need the following new generation:

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