From Hart Energy’s Sandy Segrist:

The U.S. is in the middle of its biggest dash for new gas-fired power since the shale boom.

Electricity is needed badly for AI data centers and other industries seeking to modernize their power supplies. Natural gas is cheap and plentiful compared to other power sources.

The nation could grow its power supplies by 25% by the end of the decade, according to an estimate from ICF International, a technology consulting firm. The figure means 300 more gigawatts (GW) for customers.

But plans for generation are running into a problem: Gas turbines available to convert abundant natural gas into electricity are in short supply.

Building turbines is a lengthy difficult process, and the three primary manufacturers all reported record backlog orders this year.

Doug Giuffre, executive director of S&P’s North American power markets analysis, has been studying supply and demand dynamics in the electric markets for 25 years.

“I can say that we’ve never seen times like this in power where so much uncertainty on the demand side, so much uncertainty on the supply side, and things are changing very rapidly,” said Giuffre, speaking to a San Antonio audience at the GPA Midstream Convention in September.

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