Development of New Coal-Fired Generating Capacity Stays Strong in the Rocky Mountain Region

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). As the price of natural gas remains inflated nationwide, the Rocky Mountain Region is one of the many areas poised to move forward with development and construction of new coal-fired generating capacity. Overall, coal-fired generation accounts for approximately 42 percent of the generating capacity in the Rocky Mountain Region (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming). There are currently 125 operational coal-fired generating units in the region that supply 31,430 megawatts (MW) of electricity. For over 60 years, coal has been the fuel of choice for generators of electricity at 56 plants in the region.

Currently, research conducted by Industrialinfo.com has identified 39 coal-fired units either under construction or in various stages of development. This represents over 16,200 megawatts of additional coal-fired generating capacity for the region. If all units are built, it will represent nearly $21 billion in investment through 28 projects. Colorado and Nevada are the states in the region that stand to gain the most capacity from new coal-fired units, with just under 4,000 megawatts for each state. Nearly 2,000 megawatts is proposed for each of New Mexico and Wyoming, while Arizona, Idaho and Montana also have projects on the books.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of coal-fired project spending by state.

Over 900 megawatts of new coal-fired capacity is under construction, including Springerville 3 being built by Tucson Electric Power Company, a subsidiary of Unisource Energy Corporation (NYSE:UNS)(Tucson, Arizona), Wygen II being constructed by Black Hills Energy Corporation (NYSE:BKH)(Rapid City, South Dakota), Hardin Generating Station being built by Rocky Mountain Power, Incorporated, a subsidiary of Centennial Energy Resources LLC (Bismarck, North Dakota), and North American Power Group (Greenwood Village, Colorado) is underway on its Two Elks Project.

Many other coal-fired projects are in development, including projects being proposed by Sithe Global LLC (Houston, Texas), Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)(San Diego, California), Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association (Westminster, Colorado) and others. Coal is the most plentiful fuel source available and is poised to continue to play a major supply role in future energy needs for the Rocky Mountains, and the nation as a whole, for decades to come.

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