Pre-approvals demand a new approach to managing risks and costs.
Kris R. Nielsen (k.nielsen@pegasus-global.com) is president and chairman of management consulting firm Pegasus-Global Holdings, and Patricia Galloway (p.galloway@pegasus-global.com) is CEO. Charles Whitney (chuck.whitney@opc.com) is senior vice president and general counsel at Oglethorpe Power Corp.
A resurgence is beginning in power plant construction. The most obvious driver is the expectation that electricity consumption will continue its historic growth curve; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects that by 2030 the nationwide electricity demand will increase 35 percent.1 But in addition to the need for new generating capacity, several other factors are driving this resurgence. Namely, fossil-fuel price volatility and greenhouse-gas constraints are pushing the industry toward greater fuel diversity. Additionally, the aging power plant fleet requires investments in refurbishment and repowering—or in many cases, decommissioning to make way for entirely new facilities.