Natural gas-powered electricity generation in the US spiked to an all-time high last month despite soaring prices
- Jennifer Sor
- Electricity generated from natural gas hit an all-time high in the US last month despite soaring prices.
- High usage is expected to exacerbate energy shortages, as natural gas inventories run low.
- The EU has been particularly impacted, and plans on cutting its natural gas consumption by 15% ahead of winter.
Natural gas-powered electricity generation spiked to an all-time high in the US last month according to data from the Energy Information Administration, deepening supply constraints amid a global energy crisis.
Electricity generated from natural gas plants hit 6.37 million megawatthours by the last week of July, according to a Tuesday report by the EIA.
That's largely because electricity use spikes during the hotter summer months, the report said, but it comes at a hefty cost. Natural gas futures recently climbed to $10 per million British thermal units for the first time since 2008, Bloomberg reported, and Truist analyst Neal Dingmann thinks natural gas prices could hit $12-$15 per million BTUs by wintertime.
High natural gas consumption in the US is expected to worsen the supply crunch in the energy market, as western nations struggle to replace Russian gas supplies. The US, which has become the world's largest liquid natural gas exporter, currently has 10% less natural gas inventory than it typically does ahead of winter.
Europe's inventory is even worse off. Gas inventories across the Atlantic are about 70% full, Reuters reported, but the IEA has said the EU's supply must be at least 90% full to ensure a safe winter.
That's pushed other countries to scramble to shore up supplies. The EU has implemented energy-saving measures to cut natural gas consumption by at least 15%, Bloomberg reported last month, and Germany, which is particularly impacted amid the supply shortage, needs to cut gas consumption by 20% ahead of winter, according to the country's top energy regulator.
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Comment by Dan McKay on August 24, 2022 at 5:14pm
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- DIVE BRIEF
As coal and nuclear plant retirements increase, New England looks to alternatives to fill void
- The retirement of coal and nuclear capacity in New England has paved the way for growing amounts of gas-fired and renewable generation, SNL Energy reports.
- Capacity auctions have already replaced generation from Massachusetts’ Brayton Point coal facility and the Pilgrim nuclear plant, both of which will shutter in the next two years.
- The two plants combine for 2,200 MW of generation, but the loss will be more than absorbed by an expected 3,500 MW of gas-fired additions.
Dive Insight:
SNL Energy has taken a look at the capacity situation in New England, predicting that gas-fired generation could be 60% of the region’s power by 2020, with renewable energy picking up most of the growth thereafter. The news outlet said new gas capacity will include 675 MW in the next reliability year, almost 1 GW in 2018 and 1,800 MW in 2019.
But in total, more than 4,000 MW of nuclear, coal and oil capacity is being retired in the next three years, including the 1,500-MW Brayton Point facility in 2017 and the 680-MW Pilgrim nuclear plant in 2019.
ISO New England could face potential supply shortages within two years, the grid operator said earlier this year. The region needs new energy infrastructure, including pipelines that would meet growing demand for natural gas for both heating and power generation. In 2000, natural gas supplied just 15% of the grid’s power, but since then the total has risen to almost half — some 49%.
But in April, Kinder Morgan announced it had scrapped plans for its Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a $5 billion project designed to move Marcellus Shale gas into the northeast. Company officials cited “insufficient contractual commitments” from customers in the New England markets. The Northeast Energy Direct pipeline was supposed to be online by the end of 2018. The Market Path component of the project would have had capacity of 1.3 Bcf/d and would have run almost 190 miles from Wright, to Dracut, Massachusetts.
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Comment by Willem Post on August 24, 2022 at 3:19pm
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I bet the woke/ESG folks will be having a fit.
I hope Florida, etc., will do the same
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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on August 24, 2022 at 3:14pm
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Go Woke, Get The Hell Out: Texas Bans Wall Street Giants Blackrock, Credit Suisse And Others Over Energy Boycott
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/texas-issues-list-energy-boycot...
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Comment by Long Islander on August 24, 2022 at 11:25am
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New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration is taking aim at the five other New England states, blaming their investments in renewable energy for higher electricity costs regionwide.
https://energynews.us/2022/08/22/new-hampshires-latest-energy-strat...
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Schulz of Germany stated it’s reservoirs are about 80% full, about normal for this time of year.
It was made possible, due to major gas-consuming chemical and aluminum industries significantly reducing their outputs, because of high gas costs, which makes their production uncompetitive, and using more German coal for electricity.
EU natural gas prices are due to increase another 60% this winter, because of winter heating of buildings.
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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