Generating Electricity from Natural Gas

Posted by alvina on March 28th, 2019

Due to its clean-burning properties, natural gas is a very popular source for generation of electricity. Till the 70s and 80s, large coal and nuclear power plants were the first choices for electricity generation. However, in the 90s, natural gas has replaced them and became the first choice for electricity generation, thanks to environmental, economic and technological changes associated with the earlier fuels.

Increasing reliance on natural gas electricity generation has many reasons. Generating electricity from coal is highly harmful to the environment. On the other hand, natural gas has been proven to be a clean source of electricity generation. Here are some ways of generating electricity from natural gas.

1. Steam Generation Units

The most basic way of generating electricity from natural gas is a steam generation unit, in which water is heated by burning fossil fuels (such as natural gas) in a boiler and steam is produced that in turn moves a turbine to create electricity. These units have low energy efficiency. Often just 33 to 35 percent of the thermal energy to produce steam is transformed into electricity in these units.

2. Centralized Gas Turbines

In the natural gas industry, combustion engines and gas turbines are also used to produce electricity. Here hot gases from burning fossil fuels like natural gas are used to move the turbine and produce electricity, instead of using steam for the purpose. Combustion engine and gas turbine are easy and quick to turn on. Also, due to the availability of natural gas and advances in technology, these units are getting increasingly popular. Still, they are a bit less efficient than big power plants driven by steam.

3. Combined Cycle Units

Here there are both a steam unit and a gas turbine in one unit, so, it’s known as “combined-cycle” unit. The gas turbine works much similar to a normal gas turbine, i.e. with the hot gases emitted from burning natural gas to move a turbine to produce electricity. The waste heat from this process is then turned towards producing steam which is then utilized to produce electricity much as a steam unit. So, this type of unit is much more efficient than gas turbines or steam units alone.

4. Distributed Production

Till recently, techniques of producing power have been talked about in reference to large, centralized units. However, technological advancements have made something called “distributed generation” possible. It refers to the positioning of smaller, individual electricity production units at commercial, residential and industrial sites which are basically powered by natural gas distribution, run with small combustion engine or gas turbine units or natural gas fuel cells.

These are some of the ways of generating electricity from natural gas. With these increasingly improved methods, we can look forward to having a clean environment and ample electricity at the same time.