The United States has increased the electricity generated with natural gas in the last 11 years, highlighted the American company Argan.
Natural gas-fired power plants provided about 38% of the electricity generated by large-scale power plants in the United States in 2021, an increase of 60% compared to 2010, when they provided about 24% of net generation of electricity.
The overall growth of Argan’s power business has been based substantially on the number of combined cycle gas power plants built by this company, as many coal plants have been closed.
In 2010, coal-fired power plants accounted for around 45% of net electricity generation.
By 2021, coal powered approximately 22% of net electricity generation.
Undoubtedly, the long-term historical decline in the use of coal as a power source in the United States was caused, in large part, by the abundant supply of domestic energy and, in general, cheap natural gas that made it the fuel of choice. by power plant developers during this period.
Electricity
In its Annual Energy Outlook 2022 reference case, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects average increases in US utility-scale electricity generation of just under 1% per year from 2022 to 2050.
Natural gas as the energy source for power plants in the United States is expected to continue, as the EIA projects that coal-fired generation will decrease by 45% from 2022 to 2050, and will represent only 11% of the net generation mix of electricity by the end of this period.
At the same time, net electricity generation from natural gas-fired power plants is projected to grow 17% in the United States by 2050.
The pace of the historic increase in preference for natural gas as a fuel source for electricity generation was also driven, in part, by environmental activism and restrictive regulations targeting coal-fired power plants.
Now, environmentalist opposition against coal-fired power generation has expanded significantly to target all fossil fuel energy projects, including power plants and pipelines, and has become powerful support for fossil fuel sources. renewable energy.
Argan offers a full range of engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations management, maintenance, project development, technical consulting and other services for the power generation market, including the renewable energy sector.
The wide range of clients includes independent power producers, utilities, power plant equipment suppliers, and global power plant construction companies with projects located in the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
