Lack of gas could idle half of gas-fired plants in winter: NEPOOL

The New England States will have only enough natural gas capacity to supply roughly half of its gas-fired generation in winters 2025 and 2030 in most scenarios, according to a new New England Power Pool analysis.

The data was presented last week to power grid operator ISO-NE’s Planning Advisory Committee, Kallanish Energy learns.

Mark Babula, ISO-NE system planning manager for Resource Adequacy, said the study showed the region will have sufficient pipeline and liquefied natural gas capacity to supply all the gas generation with capacity obligations during the summer.

But in the winter — when generators must defer to firm gas heating customers — the region won’t have sufficient capacity under most circumstances to run all the gas generation that could be economically dispatched, RTO Insider reported.

“When we’re talking about dispatch, what we’re looking at from the natural gas system perspective is meeting the contractual requirements to the (local distribution companies),” said Michael Henderson, ISO-NE director of Regional Planning and Coordination.
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