Nearly 8 Gigawatts Of Combined Cycle Gas Turbines Power Plants Expected to Come Online in The U.S. During 2022

Eight new combined cycle gas turbine, or CCGT, power facilities have become operational or will come online in the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The new power plants will generate an additional 7,775 megawatts of electricity, according to assessments made by the agency in its latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.

This trend is in contrast to the declines experienced in the prior four years, which witnessed reductions in CCGT power plant start-ups. The agency projects CCGT electric production capacity to reach around 290 gigawatts and account for 24 percent of total U.S. generating capacity by the end of the year. As it stands, around 50 percent of the current U.S. CCGT fleet began production between 2000 and 2006. Yearly additions have been a common theme over the last two decades, and despite the increase in additional capacity this year, they remain around 80 percent below the record CCGT capacity additions in 2002 and 2003.

Seven of the eight CCGT facilities that will become operational in 2022 are located either in the upper Midwest or in Florida. The new facilities are being developed in these locations to meet increasing demand for electricity and to replace old coal-fired power facilities, which are currently producing electricity inefficiently.

In the PJM Interconnection area, three new CCGT facilities were inaugurated this year, amounting to 3,918 megawatts of capacity. These additions will help restore the 5,346 MW of coal-fired capacity in PJM that is retiring this year, followed by another 3,774 megawatt of coal capability set to retire next year. In Florida, the 2,222 megawatt of new CCGT capacity will replace 1,486 megawatt of coal-fired capability retiring this year. In Michigan 1,403 megawatt of new CCGT capacity will replace the 1,560 megawatt of active coal-fired generating capacity that will retire this year.

The EIA projects 4,215 megawatt of CCGT capacity to become operational in 2023, when five new plants are projected to become operational. As it stands, all five of these facilities are currently under construction, and the agency projects production to commence before the end of 2023.