According to a new report from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas-fired power plants accounted for nearly half of U.S. electricity generating capacity last year.
A recent article from Power Engineering highlights details from the EIA’s survey and states that the percentage of U.S. electricity mix available from gas-fired power totaled 43 percent in 2019, compared with 39 percent from natural gas-fired facilities and nearly 20 percent for coal-fired, nuclear and renewables.
Most of the new gas-fired power plants coming online are combined cycle facilities, combining gas-fired turbines with steam turbines utilizing the exhaust used in the first line of generation.
According to the EIA report, combined-cycle systems are more efficient than steam or combustion turbines alone, and the combined-cycle systems installed more recently are more efficient than the combined-cycle units installed more than a decade ago.
As gas-fired power has generation has grown its stake in U.S. generation capacity, Conax temperature sensors and seal fittings have played an important role in the efficient operation of gas-fired power generation turbines.
Click here to read the full Power Engineering article.