“Near-term electric generating capacity adequacy is expected to be satisfactory in North America,” says Michehl R. Gent, President of the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). After several years of decline in capacity margins, NERC’s Reliability Assessment 2000-2009 projects a sharp increase across North America over the next five years, as new merchant electricity generating plants come on line. Merchant plant developers plan to construct over 190,000 MW of new generation by 2004. If even half of that capacity is actually completed, capacity margins will be adequate. The report said that although it is more difficult to project, longer-term margins should also be adequate if current trends continue. The report also shows that transmission systems will continue to be subjected to heavy flows, with very few new transmission facilities being constructed in the next ten years. So transmission limitations and congestion will increase, necessitating better coordination and cooperation between transmission system operators, as well as greater use of NERC’s transmission loading relief (TLR) procedures. For the complete Reliability Assessment report, visit NERC’s site at www.nerc.com.
Based on a report from ElectricNet
