The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Natural gas is not part of CT’s future
The fossil fuel industry keeps pushing to pipe more gas into Connecticut, but fossil gas is part of our past. The train has left the station, but the power companies don’t get it. If we let them have their way, we will be stuck with pipelines and plants that aren’t needed, and we will keep paying for them for years.
In the past, gas was seen as an inexpensive and safer alternative to coal and oil to fire our electrical plants. And in the days of Buicks and Oldsmobiles, that would have been true. But today is a very different story.
A new report from the Acadia Center concludes that under any scenario, New England’s traditional reliance on natural gas to fuel electrical plants will diminish from 45 percent to approximately 10 percent by 2030, making any investment in new gas pipelines or plants unnecessary and costly to ratepayers.
The enormous shift from natural gas to renewables will result from environmental policies in every New England state to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make significant reductions in the cost of renewable solar and wind energy.
Connecticut has committed to a reduction of greenhouse gases by 45 percent by 2030 (and to a carbon-free grid by 2040), and Massachusetts has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The cost of generating wind power has dropped 70 percent over the past years, and utilityscale use of solar has dropped even further — by 90 percent.
That means gas is no longer the less expensive alternative, and the trend will continue for years.
The traditional cost-savings from gas has been flipped around, with renewables becoming both more cost-effective and clearly the path forward.
Existing gas-fired plants will be underused, and new plants, such as the one proposed in Killingly, along with new pipelines, will simply not be needed.
Two scenarios through 2030 were studied — continued expansion of natural gas supply and generation capacity versus no new investment in gas infrastructure. Under either scenario, dependence on gas would drop from 45 percent to 10 percent.
That means new gas plants and pipelines may face enormous financial pressure, and could face bankruptcy, leaving ratepayers with the bill. “If fossil gas is only needed to meet a tenth of New England’s energy needs, then planned fossil-fuel plants, and possibly existing ones, could have problems meeting their financial obligations,” the report warns.
From now until 2030, the
The long-term impacts of climate change on health and the economy create additional costs that must be considered in any expansion of fossil gas.
expansion of renewables without new investment in natural gas would result in a cumulative cost savings of about $620 million, clearly challenging the former assumption that fossil gas offers cost savings.
Furthermore, more reliance on fossil gas means more dollars flowing out of Connecticut. For example, in 2017 spending on fossil gas imported from outside the region amounted to $1.4 billion. No new gas would keep those dollars within the region and result in a net job gain through construction and maintenance of solar and wind powered generators.
And the cost of gas fluctuates everyday, based on factors we have no control over. Solar and wind’s supply cost is steady — zero.
The report suggests a number of recommended actions and implications, including:
Additional fossil gas generating capacity is unnecessary. New fossil gas plants may be unable to sell their electricity, leaving stranded costs for ratepayers to cover. Construction of new fossil gas plants should be opposed under all circumstances.
Fossil gas delivered through new pipelines will not offer any cost savings.
Renewable electricity will provide a huge role in enabling states to meet their carbonreduction mandates.
The long-term impacts of climate change on health and the economy create additional costs that must be considered in any expansion of fossil gas. Families living near fracked gas development sites have an increased risk of cancer and other diseases, and are overwhelmingly from communities of color with low incomes.
The future of fossil gas power in New England will be a challenging one. Many decisions influencing what the grid will look like in the next 10 years have already been made, which makes the remaining decisions even more important. Taking any missteps could potentially cost consumers money while locking in additional dangerous greenhouse gas emissions well beyond 2030.