California Scheming’—Gas Demand in the State’s Post-Nuclear Era Part 2
With the electric power sector in many other states turning to natural gas-fired generation to replace retired coal and nuclear capacity, gas interests were understandably optimistic the same would happen in California when the plan to retire the 2,200-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) was announced in June. But California’s aggressive efforts to promote renewable energy and combined heat and power (CHP), improve energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions make it likely utilities and independent power companies there will use less natural gas going forward—not more. Today in the second part of our of series on California gas demand we examine why gas use by large-scale power plants in the Golden State is likely to decline, why CHP-related gas use by commercial and industrial firms will rise, and why the state’s gas pipeline infrastructure may need beefing up.
