Renwable power growth needs gas generators: Study

OREANDA-NEWS. May 13, 2016. Natural gas use for power generation will keep growing through 2030 even as the US tries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a government-funded researcher said yesterday.

Doug Arent, executive director of the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, told a gathering in Washington that power delivery systems with more natural gas have less curtailment of renewable energy sources and require less power storage.

The institute, comprised of U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and five universities, concluded in a recent study that gas use will grow over the next 15 years, as states push to lower carbon emissions and renewable energy accounts for a much larger share of electricity production. The study was presented at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Arent said the carbon constraint on gas is "very significant" in this scenario, which reduces CO2 output by 83pc by 2050 from 2005.

The study assumes carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology becomes cheaper and that a carbon price goes into effect. Gas use declines in the decade preceding 2050 if a carbon cost of \\$40/ton is imposed.

"We have to be motivated either to keep gas prices down or invest in CCS," Arent said.

The Department of Energy under President Barack Obama's administration has tried to use its research arm to demonstrate how the nation's energy systems can complement each other to combat climate change.

The joint institute study foresees gas-fired generation complementing a power system that is 80pc renewable by 2050, but only if gas plants get capacity payments. Several central grid operators, but not all, require utilities to buy capacity rights from generators years in advance to ensure adequate supply.

Arent said gas-fired generation could be viable at a 10pc capacity factor if plant owners are paid for both capacity and the energy they produce.