Siemens Power Generation sees more U.S. gas plants

By Michael Erman

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. utilities will likely build more gas-fired power plants over the next few years due to resistance to new coal plants, the chief executive of Siemens' (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) power generation business said on Wednesday.

Siemens Power Generation CEO Randy Zwirn said uncertainty about costs from greenhouse gas emissions will drive many power providers toward the gas plants.

"By default, the only technology that's going to be available is gas-fired generation," Zwirn said, speaking at the Reuters Global Energy Summit in New York.

"From an environmental standpoint, gas is still the best choice of the fossil fuels."

By the end of the decade, Zwirn believes the supply of electricity in many regions of the country will barely outpace demand, underscoring the need for new power plants.

But high profile plans to build coal-fired power plants by utilities TXU Corp. TXU.N and FPL Group Inc. (FPL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have recently been scuppered by regulators and environmentalists.

Coal-fired power accounts for about half of U.S. electricity, but the plants emit about twice as much greenhouse gas pollution as natural gas plants.

Zwirn said that utilities have trimmed a substantial number of coal units that were in development or under construction a year ago.  Continued...