Power generation demand is increasing at an accelerating pace. While the fastest-growing sources of new power generation are renewables, this type of generation is intermittent. Natural gas is the most flexible and economically viable source of power to maintain reliability throughout the variability in renewables’ output. The flexibility of natural gas means natural gas infrastructure needs to be sized for peak demand, which is expected to grow faster than average demand. Natural gas infrastructure also is needed in North America to support the growth in exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), primarily to Asia and Europe. LNG enables the replacement of less clean sources of power generation, such as coal, allowing improvements in living standards in those markets.

Natural gas offers reliability to support power demand growth

Power generation demand is growing in North America and globally. In the past 20 years, North American and other OECD electri