Natural Gas Study Says NG Power Generation to Double

10 March 2010-- A study, Fueling North America's Energy Future: The Unconventional Natural Gas Revolution and the Carbon Agenda, says that shale gas, the expansion of natural gas resources, could augment natural gas supply and open competition among different energy sources. The report comes from IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA) and more than 100 U.S. and Canadian stakeholders and government officials participated in the study.
The report said potential growth in power demand will likely lead natural gas demand for power generation to double to 38 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. Substituting coal-fired generation with natural gas-fired generation will result in short-term greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions but there is a limited pool of leftover gas-fired capacity, which prevents wholesale fuel switching, according to the study. Also, replacing coal-fired generation with natural gas-fired units outright will not help meet the target GHG reduction of 80 percent by 2050. To meet that goal would require more nuclear and renewable power as well as significant advances in carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The report also said the uncertainty of carbon reduction legislation and the viability of CCS are two major uncertainties facing natural gas' future in the power generation fuel mix.