Gas-Fired

Natural gas prices and flexible gas-fired power generation are two keys to California’s attempt to deal with the impact of more renewable-based and decentralized power supplies, according to the CEOs of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) and Southern California Edison Co. (SCE).

Total natural gas used for power generation in the United States was down 14% between January and July 2013 compared with the same seven month period in 2012, due primarily to higher gas prices relative to coal prices this year, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued long-awaitedproposed rulesfor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for new power plants, leaving gas-fired plants mostly unaffected but making construction of new coal-fired plants problematic.

If U.S. natural gas supplies are going to find a market, increased gas-fired power generation on both sides of the border with Mexico and a number of forgotten heavy industries are going to have to soak up huge chunks of the additional output from shales, according to energy analysts who appeared on a supply-demand panel at the LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent meeting Monday in Chicago.

As the start of a 15-year effort to replace 70% of current generation sources, including all out-of-state coal-fired power, theLos Angeles Department of Water and Poweris preparing to repower and upgrade Scattergood Generating Station near Los Angeles International Airport. The utility said the plant is part of a multi-billion-dollar modernization program to install more renewable and natural gas-fired generation, and to eliminate the use of sea water cooling in coastal plants like Scattergood.

Ternium SA, Tenaris SA and Tecpetrol International SA have entered into a memorandum of understanding to build and operate a natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Mexico that would supply Ternium’s and Tenaris’s industrial facilities. Together the companies are one of the largest private energy consumers in Mexico. Tecpetrol is a subsidiary of San Faustin SA, the controlling shareholder of both Ternium and Tenaris.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has secured $400 million in financing in order to acquire the Southaven Combined Cycle Plant, a natural gas-fueled power plant in Desoto County, MS.

Portland General Electric (PGE) is pushing ahead with $1.3 billion in three major new generation projects, two of which will be natural gas-fired facilities, CEO Jim Piro said during an earnings conference call on Friday.