By Gavin Maguire
LITTLETON, Colorado- Power producers in the United States have lifted natural gas-fired generation to new highs over the first nine months of 2024, sustaining the country’s position as the leading driver of global natural gas consumption.
Natural gas’s share in the US generation system also climbed to new highs this year. Gas supplied a record 46 percent of total power since June, LSEG data shows, as power firms boosted output from all sources to meet rising power demand.
The fast growth pace of gas use in the US undermines the country’s credibility as a potential leader in energy transition efforts, and is at odds with stated ambitions to lower fossil fuel use in power generation by 2030.
Yet most key power systems within the US – which is also the world’s largest natural gas producer – show no signs of reducing gas use over the near term, and look more likely to continue lifting gas-fired output for years to come.
This widening discrepancy between international climate pledges and national-level power generation trends leaves the US open to fresh criticism from climate advocates, who may attempt to ratchet up pressure on the US to curb gas use.
Through the first nine months of the year, total power generation from gas-fired power plants in the United States was 55.6 million megawatt hours (MWh), according to LSEG.
That total was up nearly 5 percent from the same months in 2023, and the highest since at least 2021.
And that growth pace was well above several other major gas-consuming nations, including China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy and Russia, data from energy think tank Ember shows.
Indeed, of the 10 largest gas-fired electricity producers, only Mexico, Qatar and Thailand grew gas consumption faster than the US over the first half of 2024, Ember data shows.
But as those three nations generate less than a quarter of the gas-fired electricity generated by the US the United States’ share of global gas-powered electricity hit a new high of 30 percent so far in 2024, from less than 29 percent in 2023.
The main drivers of US gas demand growth are a handful of power systems that are taking steps to reduce output from coal-fired plants in order the cut pollution, but are struggling to meet rising power demand without gas-fired output. – Reuters
