This year's operating performance report requires an introduction that provides "the big picture" of the business of generation. The cyclical nature of power supply and demand is not new; however, where generation's blip appears on the radar screen of trends adds another dimension to the interpretation of the specific data discussed later in this article. Over the past year, the robust generation boom that began in 1999 began its transformation into a tenuous rumble. Cash constraints and forecasts for a plump generating capacity margin for next year (19 percent, The Williams Capital Group LP), muted the boom. Consider that in 2000, 7,991 MW in new units started commercial operation―4,300 MW more than the capacity in new units that started commercial operation in 1999, according to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) most recent data (March 2002). The existing capacity of U.S. electric utilities in 2000 totaled about 605 GW, a net decrease of about 35,000 MW from the total reported in 1999. Most of the decrease was due to the sale or transfer of 43,000 MW of capacity to nonutilities.
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