Power plant modernization: The fast track to more power

As the global demand for electricity surges, the energy sector faces a critical challenge: how to deliver more power—fast. The U.S. needs more power now. In light of the global energy transition, the obvious solution might seem to be rapidly scaling up renewable energy. Utility-scale solar and wind farms typically have shorter construction timelines than fossil-fired power plants. They often require less complex permitting, fewer safety systems, and no fuel supply chains. So, in some cases, building up renewables makes a lot of sense.

However, renewables also have limitations. Solar and wind are inherently intermittent, dependent on weather and time of day. This variability can destabilize the grid, especially during peak demand or extreme weather events. Critically, they lack a key component of grid stability: the inertia provided by rotating mass in conventional power generation systems. Unfortunately, some regions around the world have already experienced blackouts due to a lack of stabilizing solutions in the grid—when renewable power plants suddenly and unexpectedly went offline. So, what are our options when renewables alone can’t solve the dilemma?

Now, we could simply build more gas power plants—and in fact, we already are. But we also need to consider the gas market, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Against this backdrop of high demand for gas-fired power, it could take anywhere from three to six years for a new gas power plant to become operational. So where will the additional power come from in the meantime?

An increasingly popular solution is to gain more capacity from existing generation assets via gas turbine upgrade packages and digital services.