A US Environmental Protection Agency proposal to increase the capacity factor of natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plants to 70% by 2030 is “doable,” but only if the country’s gas transportation system is strengthened, officials with a large Georgia generation and transmission cooperative said Wednesday. Oglethorpe Power, which supplies wholesale power to 38 electric cooperatives in the state, could comply with language in EPA’s June proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the generation sector 30% below 2005’s level by 2030 in part by increasing the use of gas-fired units to the 70% level, CEO Mike Smith said in a second-quarter earnings call. But Smith said transitioning to an era when combined-cycle units provide much of the nation’s baseload power would require a significant expansion of the existing network of gas pipelines. EPA’s proposed rule is “very bullish” on natural gas and would put the fuel into a “very dominant” […]