Rising demand for electricity generated by wind and solar will create more need for natural gas infrastructure to prevent blackouts, Williams Cos. (NYSE:WMB) CEO Alan Armstrong told the Financial Times in an interview, in comments that contradict policies that aim to phase out fossil fuels such as natural gas from U.S. power grids.
Because policies meant to increase the use of electricity in cars and heavy industry also increase the load on the grid, Armstrong said more pipelines – not fewer – will be needed to feed fuel to gas-fired generators that can back up intermittent renewable systems.
“It’s great to have renewables, and we’ll be able to continue to reduce emissions and the amount of gas that we burn, the fossil fuels that we burn… but it doesn’t change the need for incremental [gas] capacity as we electrify,” according to the CEO whose company handles about a third of all the natural gas shipped in the U.S.
Armstrong also supported climate activists who oppose hydrogen and carbon capture technologies “for good reasons,” because plants to make hydrogen and capture the CO2 would themselves consume significant amounts of electricity.
“If you throw [electricity demand] from hydrogen and carbon capture into that, you’re going to be way outpacing your ability to build renewables. And so you’re actually going to be burning more and more fossil fuels to provide hydrogen,” the CEO said.
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