Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Gas Rush 2: Six New Gas-Fired Power Plants Proposed For Pennsylvania

The last time Pennsylvania had a gas-fired power plant building boom was during the period of 1999-2005, when about 9,000 megawatts of new gas power plants were built, and opened just in time to be idled by high gas prices.  Low-prices today are triggering a new wave of gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania, with at least 6 major, gas-fired power plants in various stages of development.
http://triblive.com/news/2760126-74/gas-county-plant-power-company-natural-fired-plants-lawrence-officials#axzz2A3qFqTvj.

The 6 new-gas fired power plants represent billions of dollars of new investment, thousands of construction jobs, and thousands of megawatts of new, efficient, much cleaner generation.  They are proposed in counties like Lawrence, Bradford, and Westmoreland, are scheduled to begin operations in 2016, but may or may not be actually completed.

Key factors determining how many of the 6 plants actually get built will be whether gas prices remain competitive with coal, whether or not old plants that have announced their retirement actually do retire, and demand for electricity.  The new gas plants that do come on line will be much cleaner than those that they replace so the birth of them will bring better air and public health too.

As such, the more that get built the better.

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