London-based International Power, which owns more than 4,000 MW of power assets in the U.S., last week disclosed that it is considering mothballing some of its U.S. operational capacity. If the company follows through with such a move, it would follow similar decisions made by numerous other power companies in recent months.

“Our markets in the U.S. continue to experience very weak spark spreads and low trading liquidity,” International Power said on Tuesday as part of an earnings release. “Going forward, these factors could together put severe pressure on our profitability in Texas and New England.”

The company, therefore, said that it is “actively considering” mothballing part of its operational capacity in the U.S.

CenterPoint subsidiary Texas Genco Holdings last month said that it will mothball 2,990 MW of older gas-fired generation because of an oversupply situation in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (see NGI, Sept. 29).

American Electric Power (AEP) made a similar decision late last year and ended up shutting down nine of its power plants in Texas.

Meanwhile, Houston-based Reliant Energy earlier this month decided to temporarily mothball 824 MW of generation capacity in Southern California after the company received no bids in response to a Reliant Energy offer of generation for a one-year period starting April 1, 2004.

The company plans to again offer the 824 MW of capacity to the market in September 2004, as agreed to in a FERC settlement. If bids are received at or above our projected cash costs, the units will be returned to service by April 1, 2005.

For a complete list of International Power assets, including the U.S., go to: https://www.internationalpowerplc.com/ipplc/thecompany/assets/.

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