Resilience and Sustainability: How Natural Gas is Strengthening Our Energy System
The following is Part 1 in a 2 part series on the role of natural gas in improving energy system reliability and sustainability.
In a world increasingly defined by the dual challenges of climate change and energy reliability, natural gas stands out as a critical resource for meeting immediate and long-term needs. Its direct use is invaluable to residential customers, providing a dependable source of energy. Only one natural gas customer in 650 experiences a planned or unplanned natural gas outage in a given year, compared to an annual average of one outage per customer for electricity users. As the energy industry works to lower emissions, natural gas and gas infrastructure will remain essential in bridging the gap between resiliency, reliability, and sustainability. In this two-part series, I will discuss the role natural gas plays in promoting resiliency as we work to make the energy system more sustainable.
Resiliency refers to the energy system’s ability to prevent, prepare, withstand, adapt to, and rapidly recover from damage or operational disruption during high-impact, low-frequency events. This attribute is vital for maintaining access to energy during major weather and climate events such as excessive heat, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, and polar vortexes. In these critical situations, a resilient energy system can save lives.
The natural gas system is uniquely positioned to help ensure the energy system’s resiliency thanks to its inherent physical and operational capabilities. Most pipeline infrastructure is underground and looped, which reduces exposure to external threats and affords flexibility in the event of network disruption. Much of the equipment used on the gas system is fueled by the gas flowing through its pipes, making it self-reliant. The storage capacity of the system further enhances physical resilience, allowing it to respond effectively to disruption or sudden spikes in demand.
Robust management practices, such as long-term resource planning, emergency response planning, standard operating procedures, and incident-response tools further resilience by equipping gas utilities to respond to and learn from disruptions. Flexible delivery mechanisms, such as LNG tanks, and large customer contract design help ensure gas deliverability under extreme conditions and mitigate physical deliverability constraints.
Additionally, demand-side management and energy efficiency measures help reduce demand before and during extreme events and provide operators with demand-side control during disruptions. Together, these operational, physical, and inherent capabilities of the natural gas system can minimize the likelihood and severity of service disruptions and provide customers who suffer loss of power during extreme conditions access to potentially lifesaving energy.
The capabilities of natural gas have proven critical to supporting the energy system’s overall resilience. In August 2020, California faced a severe heat wave that contributed to drought, intense thunderstorms, and more than 100,000 lightning strikes, sparking the worst wildfire season in modern history. As homes and businesses turned up their air conditioners to beat the heat, wildfire smoke and storms disrupted wind and solar generation across the state.
When energy demand peaked on August 14, 2020, the California Independent System Operator’s solar and wind fleets produced 40 percent and 57 percent less energy, respectively, than the amounts prescribed in their resource adequacy plan, despite having bid amounts consistent with their contractual agreements in the day-ahead market. A major transmission line in the Pacific Northwest was damaged by a May 2020 storm, reducing the California Oregon Intertie’s capacity by 650 MW, and causing congestion along the usual import paths. Although energy was available, CAISO imports were limited as result of the congestion. These conditions forced grid operators to rely on natural gas storage assets to meet demand.
Without natural gas, including the plentiful storage assets in Aliso Canyon, Southern California would likely have experienced severe power outages. You can read more about the event in the American Gas Foundation’s Building a Resilient Energy System report
Natural gas and gas infrastructure has been and will continue to be a cornerstone of energy system resilience. In Part 2, we’ll further explore how natural gas can bridge the gap between resilience and sustainability as we work toward a net-zero emissions future.