NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                                JULY 2014

Coal-fired Power Generators to Spend $400 Billion On New Plants and Upgrades Next Year

Hundreds of new units and thousands of upgrades to coal-fired boilers in 2015 will generate a market of over $400 billion.  This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company by aggregating the projects in the Utility Upgrade Tracking System and World Power Generation Projects.

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East Asia will be the biggest investor in new coal-fired power plants. There are nearly 160 boilers averaging 600 MW which will be scheduled to start operation 2015.

The new boiler additions in China are going to be fewer over the next five years than were reached at the peak, but will average 19,000 MW/yr.

China Power Generation Forecasts

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There are hundreds of upgrade projects in the U.S.  Most are to meet more stringent environmental rules.  The European Union is undertaking a significant number of upgrade projects as well.  Even though the average Chinese coal-fired boiler is much newer than those in the U.S., there are a surprisingly large number of upgrades in progress. The retrofitting of 400,000 MW with SCR is such a large expenditure that it exceeds the entire U.S. upgrade program.

For more information on the tracking of individual projects, click on:

42EI Utility Tracking System

40A World Power Generation Projects

42EIC Chinese Utility Plans

For projections of new capacity, click, on N043 Fossil and Nuclear Power Generation: World Analysis and Forecast