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Key Messages
1. Natural gas currently fuels about a quarter of our country’s electricity generation, and its use will grow due to the anticipated retirement of coal-fired power plants. We already are seeing significant fuel switching because gas is cost competitive with coal.
2. Immense supplies of accessible, domestic natural gas can meet this growing need. Abundant supply affords customers lower costs and reduced volatility.
3. The U.S. pipeline grid is the key to getting abundant supplies to market. Pipelines deliver natural gas safely and reliably in a flexible and responsive way. The pipeline industry invested about $8 billion over the past decade to add roughly 15,000 miles of interstate pipeline. The natural gas sector is confident it can meet future demand for gas-fired generation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Are there issues surrounding increased use of natural gas in power generation?
A. We all agree that natural gas demand for power generation will grow in coming years because of environmental regulations, abundant domestic natural gas supplies and low natural gas prices. As demand increases, electric generators will need both gas supplies and pipeline transportation to get the natural gas to their power plants. Interstate pipelines do not sell natural gas; they simply transport it.
As gas demand for electric generation grows, pipeline capacity likely will become tighter. This means that on high-demand days—when both generators need to operate and the pipeline’s firm customers need to use all their pipeline capacity—customers that have not contracted for firm capacity may not be able to get space on the pipeline to move their natural gas. If a gas-fired generator is one of those interrupted customers, it may not be able to produce electricity on a high-demand day
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Read the Top 10 Key Messages
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Read More Frequently Asked Questions
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INGAA's One Pagers on Gas-Electric Integration
INGAA's Filings on Gas-Electric Integration
INGAA's filing to FERC on Coordination between Natural Gas and Electricity Markets (03/30/12 | Docket: AD12-12)
The Natural Gas Council's filing to FERC on Coordination between Natural Gas and Electricity Markets (03/30/12 | Docket: AD12-12)
INGAA's filing to FERC on FERC's Post-Technical Conference (01/05/12 | Docket: AD12-1, RC11-6, EL11-62)