Natural gas seen playing crucial backup role in Western US push for renewables

摘要

Power generation could be a bright spot for natural gas demand in the Western US as renewable energy penetrates the market and as coal plant retirements create a need for backup energy supplies, according to gas industry analysts and executives. California's renewable electricity goals have pressured Western region gas-fired power generation, and some neighboring states have moved in the same direction. On Nov. 10, panelists at the LDC Gas Forums' 2020 conference said gas would increasingly complement renewable power. Natural gas will remain "hugely important" as the nation tries to develop battery technology for renewable power storage, said Jack Weixel, a senior director at IHS Markit who models gas demand and storage forecasts. Today's four-hour batteries may prove effective at displacing some steam turbine power generation, but the technology to render more efficient gas-fired generation redundant does not yet exist, he said.