September 1, 2009

New Natural Gas–Fired Projects on an Upswing

Britt Burt, Industrial Info Resources

More Gas Projects in the Queue

Beyond 2009, Industrial Info is so far tracking 423 units and 53,000 MW of gas-fired generating capacity that is in the development stages. This total capacity includes 74 projects valued at more than $20 billion and scheduled for construction kickoff during 2010. As a component of these projects, 238 combined-cycle and simple-cycle units are being proposed, which would result in the addition of 25,000 MW of total capacity.

The vast majority of these projects are being developed as power projects, meaning that their primary purpose is power generation. But there are greenfield plants and plant expansions in industries such as petroleum refining, petrochemical processing, and others that include a power unit. One of the projects scheduled for kickoff next year is JEA’s $430 million Greenland Energy Center, a power plant that’s been proposed for off Phillips Highway in Jacksonville, Fla. Construction is anticipated to begin in early 2010, with simple-cycle operation expected in the summer of 2011. There are future plans to convert the plant to a combined-cycle facility.

At this juncture, it appears that the development of new gas-fired generating units will continue for the foreseeable future. Construction starts for over 17,000 MW are planned for 2011, and 8,000 MW are on the books for construction kickoff in 2012. As those start dates get closer, it is expected that even more projects will be identified that have construction activity planned to begin during this same time period.