ELP exclusive: 2002 operating performance rankings reflect changes in market dynamics

摘要

ELP again collaborated with Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA), Arlington, Va., for this report. Tom Hewson, EVA principal, discussed the following generation sector snapshots in a recent interview. Table 1 shows the rankings of nuclear plants by generation. Of the top 20 plants, 19 are the same as last year. Most changes in relative position on the list are attributable to differences in scheduling of planned outages. While no new nuclear plants are currently being built, considerable investment has been made to expand existing nuclear capacity and power output. Generation increased by 1.6 percent and capacity by 0.9 percent in 2002, allowing nuclear capacity factors to reach an industry record-setting average of 91.5 percent (see Table 2). These record-setting industry capacity factors have resulted from increased unit availability in part attributable to scheduling planned outages further apart.