Guest cheer leading by David Middleton
Florida has led the nation in the addition of natural gas-fired electricity generation capacity over the past decade, by a very wide margin.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2019
Natural gas-fired power generation has grown in Florida, displacing coalFlorida added nearly 16 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale natural gas-fired electric generation between 2008 and 2018, about one-quarter (24%) of all U.S. natural gas installations during this time and the most of any state. During the same period, electric utility net generation in Florida grew about 15%, increasing natural gas’s share of the in-state generation fuel mix from nearly half (47%) to three-fourths (72%) of the total. EIA expects natural gas-fired generation capacity to continue to grow, displacing more emissions-intensive and less cost-competitive generation fuel sources such as coal and petroleum liquids.
Florida’s electric power sector includes nearly 50 operating utility-scale natural gas-fired electric generation facilities with a total nameplate capacity of 42 GW. About 40% of the existing natural gas generation capacity was constructed between 2008 and 2018. Natural gas-fired capacity additions totaled 15.7 GW between 2008 and 2018, nearly all of which were natural gas combined-cycle units. These electric utility additions have more than offset retirements of petroleum liquids-fired units (5.1 GW), conventional coal-fired units (2.8 GW), less-efficient natural gas-fired units (3.3 GW), and other retirements (0.9 GW).
[…]
US EIA
While gas is kicking @$$ in the Sunshine State, solar is harder to spot than Waldo…
Note: Other includes petroleum liquids.)
One of the reasons natural gas is booming in the Sunshine State, is the fact that they’ve allowed for the growth of pipeline infrastructure.
Additions to natural gas pipeline capacity have kept pace with new natural gas-fired electricity generation in Florida. According to EIA’s Natural Gas Pipeline State-to-State Capacity database, natural gas pipeline delivery capacity to Florida increased from 4.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2008 to 6.2 Bcf/d in 2018, up 50%.
Most recently, in 2017, the 515-mile, 0.81 Bcf/d Sabal Trail pipeline entered into service. The pipeline delivers natural gas to power plants owned by Florida Power and Light (FP&L) and Duke Energy of Florida. Construction is underway on Phase II of the Sabal Trail to deliver an additional 0.17 Bcf/d of natural gas to Florida in 2020. Other projects are planned to serve Florida, including Phase III of the Sabal Trail pipeline (0.08 Bcf/d) and an expansion of the Gulfstream Natural Gas System (0.08 Bcf/d), which will allow deliveries to the converted Big Bend Power Plant in Tampa, Florida.
US EIA
Now, if the folks in Tallahassee would just stop opposing the exploitation of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (EGOM, OCS), in a few years there could be a natural gas production boom, right in their own backyard. The 20-year decline in Gulf of Mexico natural gas production is about to turn around, thanks to the associated gas that will be produced from large new oil discoveries currently coming online.
NOVEMBER 26, 2018
New projects expected to reverse Gulf of Mexico natural gas production declines[…]
Natural gas production in the U.S. Federal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been declining for nearly two decades. However, 10 new natural gas production fields are expected to start producing natural gas in 2018 and another 8 are expected to start producing in 2019, according to information reported to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. These new field starts may slow or reverse the long-term decline in GOM production. The 16 projects starting in 2018 and 2019 have a combined natural gas resource estimate of about 836 billion cubic feet.
[…]
US EIA
Much of the Jurassic Norphlet and almost all of the Jurassic Smackover plays are currently off-limits in the EGOM.
About the Author
David Middleton has been a proud member of the Climate Wrecking Industry since 1981, actively engaged in Gulf of Mexico oil & gas exploration and exploitation since 1988. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Houston Geological Society. He only speaks in the third person when he writes “about the author” bits or tries to impersonate Bob Dole… however, no one can do a Bob Dole better than Norm Macdonald.
Is ‘natural gas’ today the same product as it has been say 40 years ago?
Or is it the new, more neutral expression for ‘shale gas’ ?
Thanks for clarifying.
Good report, David. This is evidence that Florida is thinking forward, and, combined with other lenient tax and abundant sunshine (notice how people retire where it’s warm and not frozen?), makes Florida an attractive place to live and play golf. Here’s another interesting item about Florida and Energy: They mound up huge garbage piles, cover them and insert collection pipes into them, and capture the generated methane and use it in public-sector vehicles. That’s right, the highest terrain in south Florida is a garbage pile! When the sea level rised dramatically that’s where you will find Greta and AOC! Press On!
Ron, do you have a link to a pic of the high garbage pile?
(I did a quick search but got images of an infinite number of piles).
Thanks.
Florida is “blessed” for the purposes of reliable electricity generation by an absence of wind, one of the reasons why living there is so uncomfortable without 24/7 aircon.
Couple of things missing from this piece:
1) Florida Power and Light and its energy production subsidiary, NextEra, is the world’s largest producer of solar electric power
2) The reason that oil and gas drilling is prohibited in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is that the people of Florida are vastly and overwhelmingly opposed to it, even Republican governors and the GOP-dominated Legislature have to swear off any support of oil and gas drilling in the eastern gulf. For the very obvious reason that Florida’s beaches are our number one natural resource and basis of tourism, our largest industry by far in the state. Floridians refuse to allow our state become like Texas, where you have to dodge tar balls on their Gulf beaches. There will never be any oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf.
Or they could put in more solar panels… cut their CO2 output.
Because, you know, climate change
It is the ‘Sunshine state’, right?
(looks like around 250 sunny or partly sunny days a year, on average)
Reason why solar is not well represented in Florida is due to lobbying efforts by the Florida power generating utilities. There are rules in places that all solar panels be connected to the grid and the power companies have the option to turn them off, at will. Say if and when a major hurricane destroys the electrical infrastructure, as Michael did in 2018, the workers repairing it would be protected from unregulated electricity in the lines.
For residential, the panels are quite inexpensive, but the battery prices for installation and maintenance are quite prohibitive.
Tucker: What exactly is the ‘existential threat’ of climate change?
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6088870089001/?playlist_id=5198073478001#sp=show-clips
Florida has its pipeline protests too.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/24/sabal-trail-pipeline-florida-next-standing-rock-controversy-suwannee-river
And my last two monthly electric bills were $70 and $73. That is for July and August. Yes I have central air. No I do not have solar or wind powering my home. My property taxes are just over $800/yr and my wind insurance is just under $800/year ( I live about 1 mile from the Gulf).
Is my home Homesteaded? Yes
Have I upgraded my home for wind mitigation and maximum wind insurance discounts? Yes
Have I upgraded my windows to low e? Yes
Do I keep my the temp inside at a constant 81F? Yes.
Do I use ceiling fans? Yes
Does Florida have a state income tax? No
Am I happy about all this? Yes.
Good news, just so long as these coal plant retirements weren’t done way before they needed to be, a la the infamous “Cash for Clunkers” idiocy under the Obozo admin. I suspect that may be the case to some extent because of the fast ramp-up of gas. I also suspect coal is still being punished, and or gas being given advantages, all because of the “climate change” monster.
What many people seem not to realize, is that if you don’t burn natural gas, it will burn itself anyway. So we may as well burn it while we have it and do useful work with it before it escapes into the atmosphere and the gas gets converted to CO2 in quick time.
Same is also true for oil, but with lower rate of ground escape.
That should be a motto:
“Burn gas before its burns itself!”
There is definitely something poetic about the phrase “Jurassic Smackover”.
But I’m cautious about searching the phrase on t’internet.
“He only speaks in the third person when he writes “about the author” bits or tries to impersonate Bob Dole… however, no one can do a Bob Dole better than Norm Macdonald.”
THAT was hilarious! At the risk of sounding presumptuous, Mr. Middleton, I have to say that you and I have almost identical senses of humor.
Yeah, but it’s disingenuous to mention installed CAPACITY, since everyone knows natural gas powered plants only run at 33% efficiency, or less.
Oh wait.
In fact Staufen would have needed some kind of BOB, Blow Out Preventer, to secure drilling for however “renewable” thermal heat:
https://www.google.com/search?q=blow+out+preventer&oq=blow+out+&aqs=chrome.