The key driver in the expansion of gas infrastructure is customer demand. At a domestic level customers have doubled in numbers in the last ten years to over 400,000. At a commercial and industrial level, availability of natural gas is a key component in attracting inward investment. Already approximately 37 per cent of electricity is generated from natural gas and it is anticipated that this will grow rapidly in the coming decade as several new gas-fired power stations come on stream. Natural gas now makes up about 22 per cent of the national energy mix. In order to build on the success of natural gas in the market place BGE, in conjunction with the (then) Department of Public Enterprise, initiated a project called Gas2025 in late 1997 so as to plan transmission pipeline capacity to the year 2025. The aim was to make cost effective and timely investment in the gas transmission network.
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