Saturday, January 9, 2021

Natural Gas Consumed To Generate Electric power In The US Reached A Record High In 2020

Link here.
Consumption of natural gas in the United States decreased among residential, commercial, and industrial users
In contrast, natural gas use for electric power generation rose, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly data through October 2020 and estimates for November and December.

Natural gas consumed to generate electric power in the United States reached a record high, averaging 31.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2020, or 2% more than the 2019 average. 
This increase occurred despite slightly lower total U.S. electricity consumption this year
Natural gas consumed by electric power plants set a daily record high of 47.2 Bcf at the end of July, according to S&P Global Platts estimates, because of record-high summer temperatures and low summer prices.
Headline for this EIA report: in 2020, US natural gas prices were the lowest in decades.

I don't know about other readers, but I think that's not the story. Better headlines?
  • natural gas for electric power generation rose in 2020 -- during pandemic
  • natural gas consumed to generate electric power in the US reached a record high
  • natural gas to generate electric power set record despite overall fall in amount of electricity consumed

A lot of story lines here. 

I would expect story lines to change in 2024, three years from now, for 2023 data, after US pivots to renewable energy. 

One would think $2-natural gas is a huge challenge to "new" renewable projects. I don't know. It's all about tax incentives, grants, etc. The interesting thing: electricity is fungible. It doesn't matter how it's produced. All electricity gets to the consumer the same way. Through the grid. 

No comments:

Post a Comment