Natural gas utilities are innovating to fill storage gap
America’s natural gas utilities are working alongside state governments and businesses to deliver more energy to consumers, support manufacturing, and ensure reliable energy for data centers across the country. The natural gas industry is a driving force fueling the economy of the future and is leading the way within the energy sector for the speedy delivery of adequate and affordable fuel to facilities that are being built today.
Today, new energy infrastructure is needed quickly, and natural gas often proves the fastest way to ensure the timely delivery of the energy that new facilities need, helping to jump start the economy and meet this administration’s ambitious goals without delay. It is because of the natural gas industry’s ability to meet rising demand reliably, affordably and as rapidly as new factories and data centers can be built that makes this fuel America’s strategic advantage in the AI race.
America’s domestic natural gas resources are abundant with more than 100 years of recoverable natural gas supply at our disposal. We also have a robust delivery system with 2.8 million miles of pipeline networks already in operation in the United States providing reliable, affordable and safe fuel for rapidly scaling domestic manufacturing and emerging data centers.
More than 189 million Americans and 5.8 million businesses use natural gas because it is affordable, reliable, safe and essential to improving our environment. Commercial and industrial customers have saved more than $500 billion over the last decade by using natural gas, and that affordability compared to electricity is expected to continue through at least 2050.
Only one in 650 natural gas customers experience a planned or unplanned natural gas outage in any given year on average. Comparatively, electric customers experience an average of one outage per customer per year. Beyond keeping your house warm and appliances operating, that statistic means hundreds of thousands of dollars saved from disruption and down time at data centers and manufacturing facilities.
For all these reasons, America’s natural gas industry is ready and able meet the demand of today and tomorrow. The natural gas industry has an eye on the future and is consistently taking steps to ensure demand will continue to be meet two, three and even four decades down the line.
Demand has increased rapidly, and while the natural gas system is consistently working to reliably meet that growing demand, long-term investment will also be needed to help ensure the infrastructure can keep up as demand continues to grow.
Natural gas storage has remained relatively stagnant over the past decade while demand has risen, with underground storage capacity growth slowing to just 0.1% per year since 2014. At the same time, utilization of underground storage has increased to meet growing demand in the winter and the summer due to rising use of natural gas for electric generation.
Official government outlooks project production of natural gas to increase as demand rises. It is imperative that in addition to delivering more molecules to customers, the delivery system also maintains its ability to store natural gas to help keep prices relatively low and stable and continue to preserve reliability during extreme weather events.
The nation’s natural gas utilities are already hard at work innovating to find new, more flexible answers and grow storage options. The industry is utilizing flexible solutions like LNG storage to stockpile natural gas as a liquid in tanks connected to natural gas transmission or distribution pipelines to help manage demand on peak days. These plants are particularly helpful in places like the Northeast, where underground storage is unavailable due to geology and the ability to build new pipelines has been hindered by state policies.
Increasingly, LNG storage can also be co-located with electric power plants, helping to optimize pipeline capacity and improve reliability for electric generators. This added flexibility is critical for maintaining reliability when variable forms of renewable energy like solar and wind face low-production days.
As natural gas continues to lead the way in meeting rising demand, it is imperative that federal and state policies keep pace to help enable permitting of new infrastructure, reduce wait times, and limit endless litigation that can bog down projects in places for a decade or more. American infrastructure has long been stuck behind a byzantine permitting process that imposes unnecessary and detrimental delays and a legal system that bogs down challenges to new projects for years in court.
Congress must pass meaningful and durable permitting reform, including judicial reforms for natural gas and all energy projects, to deliver the energy capacity our nation needs. Similarly, state regulators should take heed – energy availability is one of the largest attractors for business investment. States that do not have policies that welcome new energy infrastructure will lose out on jobs that could boost their economies.
With the hope of new investments into natural gas infrastructure, alongside needed permitting reforms that Congress is poised to pass into law, natural gas utilities stand ready and are already working to meet the challenges of America’s future energy needs. Much-needed reform will drive economic progress for this country, homeowners and businesses alike and help ensure Americans have access to the reliable energy they want, need and expect. In the meantime, America’s natural gas industry is innovating, building and delivering on our promise of reliable, affordable and safe energy for our families and businesses.