The nation’s electric generating capacity will be adequate in the near term to meet customer demands, but transmission system expansions continue lag behind, tightening reserve capabilities. According to the North American Electric Reliability Council’s “Reliability Assessment 2002 – 2011,” although power plant developers have announced plans to construct more than 260,000MW of new generating facilities by 2005, not all of the proposed plants will actually be built. However, the report still predicts that capacity will be sufficient.
Although transmission expansion has lagged, NERC still expects it to reliably serve projected electricity demand. It does warn that heavy transmission loadings and congestion will continue to occur and system limitations will likely increase in some areas.
The full report is available at www.nerc.com.
