Tightening federal environmental rules and low natural-gas prices are combining to spur the biggest boom in gas-fired powerplant construction in a decade. Scores of utilities and independent power companies across the U.S. are either building or planning new gas-fired units, most of them combined-cycle facilities that capture waste heat from combustion turbines and use it to generate additional power.
But while the volume of power-generation-related work available to engineering and construction firms is considerable, questions remain as to whether the boom will expand further due to planned regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired units or somewhat deflate because of still-weak growth in electricity demand.