Megawatts

Between 59,000 and 77,000 megawatts (MW) of U.S. coal-fired power generating capacity will be retired over the next five years, according to economists at The Brattle Group. That’s an increase of 25,000 MW over their December 2010 estimate, in part due to low gas prices. Upcoming coal retirements could bring “modest increases in natural gas prices,” they said.

Considerably lighter in debt and megawatts, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. Thursday emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closing its $7.3 billion exit financing facility, including a $300 million bridge loan the reorganized independent power plant developer/operator expects to pay off by the end of the first quarter.

While one part of California’s regulatory structure was giving an expedited okay to 95 more megawatts of power to come on line in late summer, California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch Thursday was taking a slower, more detailed approach to determine how to spread the 3-cent/kW rate increase that was approved last month for the state’s two largest investor-owned utilities. In separate action, Moody’s Investor Service removed Southern California Edison Co. from further possible downgrades because the deal it struck with the governor last Monday.

In a move that surprised power traders last week, Peabody Groupsold its marketing subsidiary Citizens Power to merchant powergenerator Edison Mission Energy for an undisclosed amount. CitizensPower is ranked as the eighth largest power marketer in the UnitedStates, and had trades totaling 92.3 million MWh last year. EdisonMission, based in Irvine, CA, currently only trades power in theNortheast, where it operates a 650 MW power plant in Homer City,PA. That plant serves the PJM Interconnection and New York markets.

Traders sweating out the warm winter and wondering how they’regoing to get rid of surplus storage can take heart from a newanalysts report that sees 27,000 MW of natural gas-fired powergeneration capacity being added in the next 12 months.

Traders sweating out the warm winter and wondering how they’regoing to get rid of surplus storage can take heart from a newanalysts report that sees 27,000 MW of natural gas-fired powergeneration capacity being added in the next 12 months.

Gas-fired megawatts were in play last week as the parent ofArizona Public Service and part-owner of the Palo Verde NuclearGenerating Station pledged to put a massive 2,120 MW naturalgas-fired plant beside its nuclear facility; Texas Utilities putsix gas-fired generating plants (3,116 MW) on the market; andCalpine Corp. announced a new 800 MW cogen plant in Baytown, TX,and completed the purchase of another 500 MW development project inCalifornia. (See separate story)