The United States has over twice the generating capacity of any other country. By the end of 2006, 986,000 megawatts of capacity supply the nation’s demand for electricity. Capacity measures the steady hourly output that a generating system can supply.

At EIA we catagorize the electrical system into two segments—the Electric Power Sector and the Combined Heat and Power Sector. The Electric Power Sector is further divided into Electric Utilities and Independent Power Producers. An Independent Power Producer owns or operates facilities that generate electricity primarily for the public, but is not a Utility. Combined Heat and Power plants produce both heat and electricity.

Capacity additions in 2006 were less than half the amount of the previous two years. The industry added only about 8,000 megawatts of new capacity (new generators) in 2006. About 65% of the new capacity was fueled by natural gas.

Since the late 1990s, natural gas has been the fuel of choice for the majority of new generating units. In 2006, natural gas capacity accounted for nearly 40% of the total generating capacity. Coal-fired capacity dropped only slightly.

What is the outlook through 2030?

	Most areas of the United States currently have excess generation capacity, but all electricity demand regions are expected to need additional, currently unplanned, capacity by 2030. The largest amount of new capacity is expected in the Southeast
	Coal-fired plants typically are more economical, and they account for 40 percent of total capacity additions from 2006 to 2030, compared with a 36-percent share for natural gas
	Natural-gas-fired plants with lower capital costs make up most of the capacity additions over the next 10 years, more coal-fired plants are built in the later years as natural gas fuel costs increase.
	Nuclear capacity grows from 100.2 gigawatts in 2006 to 114.9 gigawatts in 2030, including 2.7 gigawatts of expansion at existing plants, 16.6 gigawatts of new capacity, and 4.5 gigawatts of retirements.

More information on this subject can be found in the following EIA publications:
    Electricity projections from the Annual Energy Outlook
    Electricity capacity from the Electric Power Annual
    Additional basic electricity information