Benchmarks

Last winter, many Californians found out the hard way what happens when there's not enough generating capacity to meet demand. So as spring turned to summer, power companies in New York and the Midwest were readying themselves for the onslaught of hot weather and the possibility that they too would be pushing their capacity to the limits. However, power plant developers had already seen to it that power shortages would not be be a concern across the U.S. As things now stand, overbuilding is the real concern. RDI's most recent study, New Coal-Fired Generation: The Race Is On, takes a look at the nation's need for new generating capacity and evaluates coal's potential role in the mix. According to the study's projections, roughly 50 percent of the 296,000 MW of additional capacity required to meet demand between now and 2015 will be built by the end of 2003.