Lower natural gas prices, apparently adequate gas supplies and improving reliability and efficiency of combustion turbines have all increased the attractiveness of natural gas as a fuel for electricity generation. In the Northwest Power Planning Council’s 1991 Northwest Power Plan, both natural gas-fired cogeneration and the use of combustion turbines as a means of backing up the hydropower system in low water years were found to be cost-effective resources. In conjunction with the hydropower system, combustion turbines would be used only when water conditions limit the supply of nonfirm or so-called secondary hydroelectricity. With today’s lower natural gas price outlook, natural gas is competitive even as a base-load electricity generation resource, that is, to operate at high capacity factors to meet loads during most conditions.
