According to the Energy Information Administration’s November 2014 Short-Term Energy Outlook, power generation capacity in the Northeast is undergoing a significant change as the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is scheduled to cease operations in December and nearly 3 GW of coal-fired capacity has been retired in the region in the last year. Much of the lost nuclear and coal-fired electricity generation capacity in the Northeast will be replaced by generation from natural gas-fired power plants and by increased imports of hydroelectricity from Canada.

In terms of natural gas, EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski issued the following comment on the Short-Term Energy Outlook:

“The US heating season began this month with ample natural gas inventories of almost 3.6 trillion cubic feet, after average gas injections into storage exceeded the five-year average for 29 straight weeks. A record 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was put into storage by the start of the U.S. heating season this month.”

Earlier this week, EIA said working natural gas in storage ended October within 7 percent of the average of the last five end-of-season storage levels.