Aug

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Europe (decreasing use of natural gas)

It appears Europe needs less natural gas and will import lower volumes of LNG. As a whole, their gas-fired and thermal power plants are experiencing lower capacity factors. Several factors contribute to the decline.

One factor is the French nuclear power plant fleet, which has been experiencing higher capacity factors and lower production costs. Another is the EU's wind, solar, and energy storage assets, which have low production costs. Other factors include the EU's weaker economy and milder winters.

- Gavin Maguire, Reuters, 6 February 2024
- Sarah Brown, Dave Jones, EMBER, 7 February 2024
- Seb Kennedy, EnergyFlux.News, 1 August 2024
- European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E)

United States (increasing use of natural gas)

U.S. power plant operators generated 6.9 million MWh of electricity from natural gas on a daily basis in the lower 48 states on July 9, 2024, the U.S. Energy Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, which is “probably” the most in history, and definitely the most since at least January 1, 2019, when the EIA began to collect hourly data about natural gas generation.

The spike in natural gas-fired generation on July 9 was because of both high temperatures across most of the country and a steep drop in wind generation. According to the National Weather Service, most of the U.S. experienced temperatures well above average on July 9, 2024., with particularly high temperatures on the West Coast and East Coast.

- Sean Wolfe, Power Engineering, 25 July 2024

With July heatwaves, US ‘probably’ saw highest natural gas generation in history, EIA says

Differences

Several factors may explain why the United States is consuming more natural gas than Europe. One factor is price. Wholesale natural gas prices in the United States are much lower than in Europe.

Air conditioning is an important factor. Air conditioning is widespread in the United States but not so much in Europe. Air conditioners consume large amounts of electric power, and they are the key asset targeted by utility demand-response programs.

A related factor is that the United States has two energy-consuming peaks (summer and winter), while Europe's major peak is in the winter. With lower bulk pricing for natural gas, bulk power prices are also low, and incentives to conserve energy are muted.

Finally, the United States economy is outperforming Europe.

There's India:

- John Kemp (Reuters), India electricity generation - Selected indicators, 31 July 2024


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