Natural gas-fired power generation in the United States declined through the first four months of 2021. According to the EIA, an average of 3,394 gigawatthours of electricity were generated daily by natural gas-fired power plants. This represents a 7% decline compared to the same period in 2020 and the first decline since 2017.
Despite the addition of 5.8 gigawatts of combined cycle generation capacity in 2020, natural gas-fired generators face significant headwinds. Increased renewable energy capacity and increases in natural gas prices have reduced competitiveness. As a result, the EIA forecasts that electricity generated from natural gas-fired power plants will decline approximately 9.1% in 2021 and decline an additional 0.7% in 2022.
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