POWER April 2021 - 18

NATURAL GAS
The Natural Gas Flame
Continues to Burn Bright
The natural gas sector is well aware of the challenges facing the fossil fuel
industry, but analysts say gas has attributes that will keep it a big part of the
U.S. and global energy mix.
Darrell Proctor
atural gas has moved to the front
burner of power generation discussions.
The fuel's future has
been a topic of debate for months, with
the U.S. industry concerned about potential
drilling limits from the Biden administration,
and a move toward increased
electrification in the U.S. and globally
that could reduce demand for gas outside
of the electricity sector.
The fallout from a severe winter
storm that wreaked havoc on Texas' gas
supply in February, and left millions of
Texans without power and heat, also
raised questions about reliance on natural
gas. That's an issue raised by the
Trump administration when it argued
for propping up coal and nuclear power,
saying the natural gas supply could be
disrupted by external events.
Low prices for natural gas over the
past decade helped establish the fuel
as the leading source of power generation
in the U.S. Natural gas also has
been characterized as a bridge fuel as
the electricity sector transitions toward
renewable energy, able to rapidly provide
backup power to help balance the intermittency
of renewables.
However, the rise of renewables such
N
as solar and wind, along with ever-stricter
regulations on power plant emissions,
has prompted questions about the future
of natural gas-fired generation. New gasfired
plants are being built, but facilities
also are being retired. Andrew Bradford,
principal of Colorado-based BTU Analytics,
said his group expects " 19 GW
of gas [mostly older vintage gas-steam
plant] retirements through 2026 based
on our analysis. "
Despite the challenges, analysts who
spoke with POWER agree natural gas
will remain a major part of U.S. and global
power generation for years. They say natural
gas continues as an important fuel
for baseload power, though large combined
cycle plants may give way to more
smaller-scale, quick-start combustion
turbines, to deal with localized intermit18
1.
This is a rendering of NTE Energy's planned 650-MW Killingly Energy Center in Connecticut.
Construction of the project is set to begin this year. Florida-based NTE Energy has 2.7 GW of
natural gas-fired electric generation in various stages of development, including the Killingly
plant, which will feature a Mitsubishi Power M501JAC combustion turbine, capable of burning
ultra-low sulfur diesel as backup fuel. Courtesy: NTE Energy
tency. Another trend? Gas-fired projects,
both new and existing, are increasingly
paired with battery storage.
" The future for gas-fired power generation
is incredibly bright, notwithstanding
the decarbonization megatrend, " said
Gabe Procaccini, a partner with Akin
Gump who focuses on energy. " Natural
gas is abundant, inexpensive in the
U.S. [and relatively inexpensive globally
as a result of a growing global liquefied
natural gas distribution network], clean,
and most importantly a flexible source
of power. These attributes have fostered
greater adoption of gas-fired power generation
facilities by many states and independent
system operators, and that
trend is not expected to decrease anytime
soon among this group. "
Procaccini told POWER that the move
toward decarbonization could help the
gas industry, at least for a while. " In fact,
as gas becomes even cleaner through
carbon capture and storage, and other
emerging technologies, pairing gas
with voluntary carbon credits and the
greater production of biogas, to name a
www.powermag.com
few factors, demand for gas-fired power
generation is expected to grow in these
markets and additional gas-fired plants
are expected to be built well into the
next decade, " he said.
Power Generation
Gas turbine manufacturers continue to
innovate, making their products more
efficient and flexible, and able to burn
natural gas along with other fuels. Two
GE 9HA.02 gas turbines-the largest
model of GE's second-generation Hclass
heavy-duty gas turbine fleet and
one of the largest gas turbine models
on the global market-in late February
began commercial operation at Southern
Power Generation's 1,440-MW
Track 4A Power Plant in Malaysia. Mitsubishi
Power in March said it is developing
a 40-MW class gas turbine that
can directly combust 100% ammonia.
Siemens Energy in February said it
reached an agreement to provide its latest
F-class gas-steam combined cycle
units to a combined heat and power
(CHP) project in China; the 2×460-MW
POWER | April 2021

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POWER April 2021

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