Surge in Power and Gas Demand in the Southeast Atlantic—Reasons and Solutions

Abstract

The Southeast Atlantic region (much of it in Virginia and the Carolinas) is anticipating an extraordinary growth in electric demand over the next few years, with a resulting surge in natural gas demand. Utilities in all three states, anticipating rapid growth in electricity demand through the 2030s, have ambitious plans for renewables. However, these states are acknowledging that solar and offshore wind will need to be backed up by a significant increase in natural gas-fired generation to join energy storage in providing load-following dispatchable power, to compensate for the variability of wind and solar generation. There is also a recognition that load is growing too fast to rely solely on new wind and solar for baseload generation. Further, a significant amount of remaining coal-fired generation is expected to phase out in the three states, creating the need for more generation unrelated to load growth.