You asked for a description of power plants built recently in New England and elsewhere in the country.

Table 1 describes generating units placed in service in New England since 1999, the year after Connecticut restructured the electric industry to permit competition. (A power plant can have several units. ) The table lists the plants' generating capacity in the summer, when demand peaks. Most of the plants have slightly higher generating capacity during the Winter, when the laws of physics allow them to operate more efficiently. Most of these plants use natural gas to generate power. Plants were built in all of the New England states except Vermont. The Connecticut plants have a summer capacity of 1,764 megawatts (a megawatt is approximately the amount of power used by 700 homes).

Table 1: Recent Additions to New England's Generating Capacity

Source: Independent System Operator-New England

In addition to these new plants, the Kendall plant in Massachusetts was repowered, i. e. , its capacity was increased by replacing generating equipment at the plant. The increase in summer generating capacity of the plant, which can burn natural gas or fuel oil, was 172 megawatts. Similarly, the Millstone (Connecticut) and Pilgrim (Massachusetts) nuclear power plants increased their generating capacity by 30 and 35 megawatts, respectively. The Cabot hydroelectric facility in Massachusetts increased its capacity by 9 megawatts in 2004.

It does not appear that there were any new plants or capacity additions in New England in 2005 or 2006.

Nationally, 242 generating units went into service in 2005, with a summer generating capacity of 17,622 megawatts. Of these, 126 units with a capacity of 14,753 megawatts, were powered by natural gas. The U. S. Department of Energy projected in October 2006 that another 223 generating units would go into service in 2006. These units were projected to have a summer capacity of 12,979 megawatts, of which 9,156 megawatts were natural gas fired and 3,004 megawatts used renewable energy sources. Further information about these units is available at http: //www. eia. doe. gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat2p6. html.

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