Power April 2022 - 26

GAS POWER
Decarbonization A Major Consideration for Gas
Suppliers
The drumbeat of net-zero commitments
by companies and governments
is calling into question how natural
gas-increasingly being called " fossil
gas, " particularly in Europe-will fit
into a world of long-term deeper cuts
in carbon. The issue featured prominently
at the CERAweek conference in
March. Several gas suppliers weighed
in on steps the gas industry could take
to reduce emissions along the chain,
efforts they said were necessary to retain
end-users-including power generators-and
help them achieve their
own targets.
As it stands, expanding natural gas
production could offer a substantial opportunity,
said William Jordan, executive
vice president and general counsel
at Pennsylvania-headquartered natural
gas producer EQT Corp. Ramping up
LNG production could boost coal-to-gas
switching in Asia, where coal fleets are
relatively young, he suggested.
Andrew Walker, vice president of
LNG Strategy & Communication at
Cheniere Energy, meanwhile, pointed
to gas power's crucial long-term role
certain fundamentals a whole lot in the
external markets, and certainly not in the
near-term. " Prices will continue to play
a key role in determining gas generator
profitability, particularly in competitive
markets, which are being increasingly
saturated with renewables, he said.
Investment trends, however, could
lean more heavily on clean energy portfolios
(CEPs)-combinations of wind, solar,
energy efficiency, demand response, and
battery energy storage-which appear to
be gaining momentum as an alternative
to building new gas plants, according
to RMI, an independent nonprofit that
works with entities to identify and scale
climate-related " energy system interventions. "
CEPs represented over 90% of
new capacity entering interconnection
queues in 2020, while a " combination
of economics and advocacy has led to
the cancellation prior to construction of
more than 50% of proposed new gas
plants in the past two years, " RMI noted.
Economic and policy headwinds associated
with gas power include resiliency
concerns and health burdens, it said.
The Glimmer in Technology
Despite these challenges, the world's
biggest gas technology equipment man26
as
an enabler for intermittent renewable
generation. He also noted that the
existing natural gas system, which has
an " obvious platform in terms of infrastructure,
skills, and development, "
could lead to the large-scale development
of low-carbon gases, such as
hydrogen, renewable gas, and biogas,
as well as natural gas outfitted with carbon
capture and storage. However, the
cumulative opportunity is often unsung
because " there's no one-size-fits-all, "
Walker said, noting that different markets
are at different levels of sophistication,
and that gas tends to be a fuel
with diverse uses and loads.
Walker
said
Cheniere
recognizes
customer climate priorities, however.
His company, for example, has begun
reducing aspects of its commodity's
climate impact, from upstream through
shipping, including through a focus on
accurate measurement and reporting.
Thomas Maurisse, senior vice president
of LNG at TotalEnergies, a natural
gas customer, meanwhile, noted that
his company requests suppliers to provide
certificates of transparency.
ufacturers remain optimistic that gas
generation will thrive-at least over the
near term. " Our view is very consistent
with many of the third parties, such as
IEA, IHS Markit, [BloombergNEF], and
others, that gas is going to experience
growth through at least 2030. And that's
growth in gas generation globally, " Brian
Gutknecht, marketing leader at GE Power,
told POWER in February. Beyond 2030,
multiple scenarios may begin to diverge,
with some scenarios anticipating stronger
growth for gas power equipped with carbon
capture through 2040, he noted.
Growth this decade will be founded on
gas generation's " critical " net-zero role.
Gas power's GHG emissions can be a third
of coal's, according to some estimates that
factor in efficiency, but gas also offers " the
flexibility and dispatchability needed to
balance intermittent renewables and variable
renewables, and providing some of
the system inertia that's required for system
resilience. On top of that, you've got
demand growth projected to be about a
50% increase by 2040, " Gutknecht noted.
" A lot of that demand growth is going to
happen in developing economies in Asia,
where they already currently account for
about two-thirds of global [carbon dioxide]
emissions. "
www.powermag.com
2. European natural gas prices have in the
past year risen to all-time highs and remain
extremely volatile. Courtesy: International
Energy Agency (IEA), Natural gas prices in
Europe, Asia and the United States, Jan
2020-February 2022, IEA, Paris
A key misconception frequently shrouding
the energy conversation, though sometimes
underscored in gas power forecasts,
is technology's potential to decarbonize
gas, Gutknecht noted. " Some of those
scenarios see rapid growth, not just in
natural gas but in abated gas-so gas
with carbon capture, gas [and] hydrogen, "
he said. Gas " is part of the solution, " he
said. " It really is. These third parties are
saying it actually is critical to achieving our
climate objectives and growth in gas is
critical to doing it at the speed and scale
that's required. "
Erik Zindel, vice president of Generation
Sales of Hydrogen at Siemens Energy,
agreed. The build-up and capacity
availability of gas power plants is " required
to cover the residual load demand
resulting from the fluctuating renewables, "
he noted. But significant demand
growth could also come from increased
sector coupling and the electrification of
other energy-intensive sectors, such as
mobility, industry, or buildings.
" With 'H2
-ready' plants, which are
already prepared for a later upgrade to
100%-hydrogen operation, these new
gas power plants will be ready to provide
full decarbonized residual power in
electricity grids dominated by fluctuating
renewable energy. So, natural gas serves
as bridge-fuel whilst the gas power plant
itself is a future-proof technology and a
key enabler to fully decarbonize the power
sector, " he said.
" Basically, that's not all wishful thinking,
as the technologies for realizing this vision
are available in principle, " Zindel added.
" Even gas turbines capable of firing 100%
hydrogen will be ready long before the
market demands it. And finally, from a cost
perspective, it should be noted that fully
decarbonizing the power sector is manageable
and no longer a roadblock. " ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER senior
associate editor.
POWER | April 2022
http://www.powermag.com
Power April 2022

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