Because of its many economic and environmental benefits, natural gas has become the fuel of choice for electricity generation . In the 1990s, there was a dramatic shift to natural gas for the generation of electricity. Large coal and nuclear generating plants were the clear choice of electric utility planners in the 1970s and 1980s, but a combination of economic, environmental and technological factors have resulted in a pronounced movement to gas. In fact, virtually all new generating capacity being added today will rely on gas. Combined-cycle plants offer extremely high efficiency, clean operation, low capital costs and shorter construction lead times.
Higher efficiency means lower fuel bills and less pollution.
Gas consumption by central-station electricity generating plants will more than double over the next 20 years although the increase may be lower than projected by some forecasters . The accelerated projection indicates consumption will more than double by 2020-to 6.7 quads per year. Although this growth is far above historic levels for this sector, the total is somewhat less than the current projection of 7.8 quads and significantly less than the 9.2 quads forecast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in its 1999 Annual Energy Outlook . While the accelerated projection includes a very high penetration rate for gas in new generating facilities, capacity additions are somewhat limited. These limitations are due to the assumed life extensions of both nuclear and coal plants, increasing the use of coal and nuclear plants, growth in distributed generation and some construction of new coal plants in the later years of the forecast.