Power Plant Construction Hits Record Year

The 54,019MW is about three-quarters of the plants expected to come online last year, showing the impact of spending cuts at some utilities. Nearly all of the new plants are fueled by natural gas, which is capturing a growing share of the electric generation fleet.

While electricity demand in 2002 rose 2.8 percent, faster than expected, the growth in new supply was closer to 7 percent. That has led power prices in many regions to drop and power producers and trading firms to struggle.