Gas-Fired

DTE Energy Co. plans to build natural gas-fired power plants in Michigan to replace coal-fired plants it intends to retire there by 2023.

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) has authorized a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Advanced Power AG to construct a 1,105 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Northeast Ohio’s rural Columbiana County.

Even as FERC continues to take steps to smooth natural gas-power coordination, significant issues remain, requiring both industries to work diligently together as the nation transitions from coal toward more natural gas in the power sector, a FirstEnergy executive said Wednesday.

Natural gas deliveries for electric power generation were 976.8 Bcf (32.6 Bcf/d) in June, a 9.4% increase compared with 893.3 Bcf (29.8 Bcf/d) in June 2015, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

UGI Energy Services LLC has broken ground on the Sunbury Pipeline, which would supply one of the nation’s largest coal-to-natural gas power conversion projects in central Pennsylvania Snyder County.

More natural gas-fired power plants are planned for the Appalachian and Great Lakes regions, adding to a growing list of new electricity sources that would utilize Marcellus and Utica shale supplies.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects natural gas-fired power generation to set a record this year, providing an average of 3.8 million megawatt hours per day, a 4% increase from 2015.

California regulators recently approved the replacement of a coastal natural gas-fired baseload power plant with gas-fired peaking units as a statewide ban on seawater cooling for coastal plants draws closer.

Increasing natural gas production, particularly from shale plays in the Northeast and Southwest, is expected to boost gas-fired power capacity across the country in the coming years, especially in some Mid-Atlantic states, Texas and Florida, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).