Many factors could influence the actual fuel mix in the years ahead, including promising developments in battery storage capacity that will help ensure reliability from renewable energy sources. Bloomberg New Energy Finance anticipates natural gas will reach 54 percent of generation by 2050. S&P Global Platts Analytics reports growth to well over 40 percent power generation from natural gas even sooner, by 2040.

But other models with a more favorable renewables outlook also show a robust future for natural gas. Some experts argue that these government projections have historically been more bullish on coal and conservative on renewables. Environmental Protection Agency's equivalent projection predicts a jump up to 47 percent natural gas. The agency's most recent long-range projection that locks in current policies, predicts this figure will stay essentially the same by 2050. electricity is currently produced by natural gas plants, according to the Energy Information Administration. utilities for building new infrastructure, whether it is economically viable or not.'Ībout 37 percent of U.S. The low price of natural gas has triggered a gas 'building spree'', according to the research firm S&P Global, noting that ''business models and regulatory structures reward many U.S. electricity by 2030, 'new natural gas-fired generation, and to a much lesser extent renewable energy, will replace most of the thermal-coal electric-generation capacity heading into retirement.' A July 2019 analysis by Moody's Investor's Service noted that while coal could power as little as 11 percent of U.S. Though climate activists and many financial analysts agree that time has come, there has been no rush to get off the bridge.Īccording to a 2019 report from the energy research group Rocky Mountain Institute, 88 proposed natural gas generation projects are expected to come online by 2025. The label was meant to indicate that natural gas would be a temporary stop-gap until renewable energy was readily available and cost-effective. Natural gas, which emits roughly half as much carbon dioxide as coal, has been called a 'bridge fuel' since the 1980s, when the gas industry, followed by environmental groups, began popularizing the term. 'The question about natural gas is really front and center,' Nick Steckler, of the research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said this month on a digital panel on the future of the electric sector. 'We've come off of a very big boom in natural gas build.'

As pressure escalates for the industry to complete the switch to renewable sources by 2050 to stay below critical climate change thresholds, some projections indicate steady or even increasing usage of the fossil fuel decades into the future.

A few months and a national crisis later, renewable prospects are perhaps shining even brighter, as government projections show that for the first time renewable sources are likely to produce more electricitythan coal in 2020.īut as coal plants are retired in droves and renewable energy becomes more practical and economical than ever before, many electric utilities are continuing to plan for and invest billions in power generation from natural gas. Energy Information Administration reported that most new electric power generation in 2020 would come from wind and solar. power sector has been dominated by a sunny outlook on renewable energy. You can sign up for their newsletter here.Įven in the gray fog of a pandemic, news about the future of the U.S. This story was produced by FairWarning, a nonprofit news organization based in Southern California that focuses on public health, consumer, labor and environmental issues.

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