Credit crisis dims the lights for power industry

As workers scramble to build an $800 million coal-fired power plant on a patch of farmland here, a crisis that began on faraway Wall Street threatens to stretch America’s power supplies to the brink

The industry has faced criticism for blackouts, but it also faces opposition to new new plants and stringing new power lines.

…”We have to have new (power generation) capacity at some point, or we’ll have brownouts, blackouts,” said Mary Novak, an economist with the consulting firm Global Insight. “The problem is, too many (utilities) are betting on delay.”

For Montana’s 250-megawatt Highwood plant, a Nov. 30 regulatory deadline forced developers to start building with only enough cash to lay the concrete foundation. If additional financing fails, the electric cooperatives behind the plant will have to get their power from the more expensive open market