美国天然气发电量同比增长12%

据3月31日Kallanish Energy报道，根据美国能源部(U.S. Department of Energy)及其能源信息署(Energy Information Administration)的数据，2020年美国天然气发电量同比增长12%。

联邦政府机构在其每小时电网监测报告中称，截至3月18日，以天然气为燃料的发电厂累计发电301100亿瓦时，这还不包括2020年的闰日。

尽于冬季气候较为温和，电力需求下降，总发电量下降了5%，但发电量仍在增长。这一增长主要是由于天然气价格较低以及2019年出现的产能增加。

EIA称，天然气现货价格已从11月7日的2.87美元/百万英热降至2020年的平均1.94美元/百万英热。

报告指出，2020年第一季度，低价格环境一直存在，这使得天然气成为了更具竞争力的燃料。随着天然气发电量的增加，与2019年同期相比，2020年燃煤发电量平均每天减少965亿瓦时。从煤炭到天然气的转变在美国中西部和墨西哥湾沿岸最为明显。

去年，美国新增了6674兆瓦的联合循环发电能力。预计这一增长将继续下去，到2020年，计划再新增5840兆瓦的联合循环发电能力。

洪伟立 摘译自 Kallanish Energy

原文如下：

US gas-fired electricity up by 12% this year: EIA

Natural gas-generated electricity in the United States has grown by 12% year-on-year in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Energy and its Energy Information Administration.

Through March 18, natgas-fired power plants generated a cumulative 301,100 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity — this excludes the additional leap day in 2020, the federal agency said in its Hourly Electric Grid Monitor report.

The growth in generation occurred despite a 5% decline in total powergen due to a milder winter and lower demand for electric heating, Kallanish Energy reports. The increase was due largely by low natural gas prices and capacity additions that occurred in 2019.

Natural gas spot price has fallen from $2.87 per million British thermal units on Nov. 7 to an average of $1.94/MMBtu so far in 2020, the EIA said.

The low-price environment has persisted for the first three months of 2020 and has made natural gas a more competitive fuel, it added.

Last year, the U.S. added a net 6,674 MW of new combined-cycle capacity. The growth is expected to continue with another net 5,840 MW of combined-cycle capacity planned in 2020.

As natural gas-fired generation increased, coal-fired generation declined by an average of 965 GWh per day in 2020, compared to the same time period in 2019.

The switching from coal to gas has been most obvious in the U.S. Midwest and the Gulf Coast.