Additional production capacity as peak summer demand nears
By Ellis Talton
The US could see a whopping 200% increase in electricity generation capacity added in 2017, according to a report released by EIA last month. The research shows that at least 12 new facilities producing at least over 500 megawatts each are slated to come online this year, with Maryland seeing back-to-back start-ups in March and April.
The year’s newest power plant in Maryland came online on March 14, 2017. The St. Charles Energy Center in Charles County, Maryland has 725 megawatts of power generating capacity with two gas turbines and a steam turbine. The project took about 36 months to complete at a cost of $775 million. Also earlier in January 2017, Florida’s Polk Power Station in Tampa added 460 megawatts after bringing online four gas-fired combustion turbines in an expansion project.
Peak summer demand, which resulted in record natural gas consumption in 2016, will see two more plants coming online in Kentucky and Maryland. The Paradise plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky was released for commercial operation in April, 2017.
This plant puts in place combined cycle production and replaces two of the three coal-fired turbines currently working there. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) invested nearly $1 billion to replace these coal-fired units, though it has not made it clear if it intends to discontinue the use of the third coal-fired unit. This expansion will add 1,100 megawatts of capacity.
Finally, Maryland sees another power plant set to come online in June 2017: the Wildcat Point plant in Cecil Country, Maryland. This is adding another 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity in Maryland. The two facilities, although located in the same state, serve different regions and are more than 100 miles apart at separate ends of the state.
In total, 13 gigawatts of generating capacity will be added this year, compared to 2016 when only 4.6 gigawatts (net) were added. It is no coincidence that most new power generating activity is coming along near areas with high levels of natural gas production: the borders of the Marcellus Shale play near Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa, as well as near the gas plays in Texas and Oklahoma. Between the two states, we will see at least 5 new power plants online in 2017.
Although new capacity is being added, the EIA also forecasts a few plants to be decommissioned, primarily from older steam turbines. California and Oklahoma are both seeing plant shut-downs, which could bring down the total generating capacity figures for the country.
Source: EIA
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Ellis Talton is a New York Energy Week 2017 Fellow. He worked as an energy journalist for The Oil & Gas Year in Istanbul, Turkey and covered the Middle East and Africa. He graduated from The University of the South: Sewanee with a Bachelor’s of Arts in French Studies and a focus on international relations.
