Benchmarks

Where will the next development opportunities occur?

With the current surplus of generating capacity across most power markets in the United States, what are the more attractive regions for power generation development around the world? Potential near-term opportunities exist in Latin America and the countries of the former Soviet Union based on critical infrastructure needs, but Asia, driven by China's explosive growth, is expected to be the largest source of turbine orders over the next decade. Forecast capacity additions-as shown in Platts Research & Consulting's , a 10-year forecast of supply and demand balances in 26 power markets around the globe-are based on megawatts currently under construction and what is deemed "opportunity" development-the need for capacity over and above what is currently under construction to meet forecast levels of peak demand and reserves.

Near-term development opportunities (through 2008) exist in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, mostly due to the age and obsolescence of equipment as opposed to a significant increase in demand. North America, on the other hand, will continue to constitute a large portion of the new capacity additions forecast in 2008 because of its market size and relatively high demand forecast. Latin America needs generating capacity in the near term but is fairly limited in the long term. Western Europe and Africa, which as a region includes Turkey and the Middle East, are projected to be slow-growth markets over the entire forecast period. Total growth in opportunity megawatts is estimated to be approximately 1.5 percent per year through 2008.