In the first four months of 2021, natural gas-fired generation in the lower 48 states has decreased by nearly 7% from the same period in 2020, said the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a statement yesterday.
Natural gas
This decline in natural gas generation during the first four months of this year is the result of higher natural gas prices and increased competition from renewables and it is the first year-over-year decline since 2017," said the report. "Overall, U.S. electricity generation during the period increased 6.6% compared with 2020 because of colder winter weather."
Natural gas-fired generation has been facing increased competition from renewable generation in the United States because of recent record-high capacity additions to wind and solar power plants, said the report.
The report said between May 2020 and February 2021, 22.5 gigawatts (GW) of combined net wind and solar electric generating capacity additions came online in the United States, a 15% increase. It expects an additional 28.7 GW of wind and solar capacity to enter service during the remainder of 2021, based on its latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. In contrast, between May 2020 and February 2021, 4.8 GW of U.S. natural gas capacity came online, a 1% increase. An additional 3.8 GW of natural gas capacity is expected to come online during the remainder of 2021.
"We expect declines in natural gas-fired generation to continue through 2022," the EIA report concluded.
Jessica Lutz, writer for the American Petroleum Institute, addressed this topic in the recent issue of BIC Magazine.
Referring to EIA's 2021 Annual Energy Outlook statement — "Natural gas and oil will remain central to meeting our nation's energy needs well into the future" — Lutz said that the forecast and the Biden administration's energy position are incompatible with each other, raising a simple question:
If we aren't allowed access to key federal natural gas and oil reserves, onshore and offshore, where will our energy supply come from?
"Halting federal leasing simply doesn’t make sense when you think about how far the U.S. has come in recent years, thanks to the increased domestic production of natural gas and oil," said Lutz. "We’ve seen economic growth, increased energy security and lower costs for consumers, just to name a few of the benefits, all of which are more important than ever as we work toward economic recovery." Read more.
