Closer Look at AZ's NG Potential

According to ADEQ's presentation entitled, State of Arizona's Energy System, natural gas in Arizona experiences peak demands during the summer months while the rest of the year natural gas is used much less. If there is a switch to natural gas, Arizona would have a problem finding another energy source to provide the peak load in the summer months, which greatly increases due to cooling needs from hotter temperatures.

A look at NGCC utilization in the Southwest with AZ represented by the yellow line.

The other problem with fuel switching is increased demand of natural gas. As stated in an earlier post, natural gas is currently imported into Arizona from other states. California and Nevada also import natural gas, and both states use natural gas as their primary energy source. The greater demand of natural gas in the Southwest would create a burden on the natural gas supply as well as on natural gas prices. Additionally, Arizona has no natural gas storage systems and will need to build storage systems to create greater resiliency in the electric system for natural gas use in Arizona.

Additional infrastructure that is needed are transmission lines. At existing coal-fired power plants there are very few natural gas-fired power plants. The needed infrastructure takes time to be built and with a very small timeframe the EPA is offering, construction needs to begin soon.

AZ's three major natural gas pipelines.

Lastly, half of all Arizona natural gas generators are not operated to meet load demands for Arizona. They serve as merchant sellers supplying natural gas to the region's energy market. The long-term contracts these suppliers have with out-of-state consumer markets also pose a problem.

Six merchant natural gas suppliers in AZ.

With these problems Arizona will face a difficult time switching to natural gas, but the greatest challenge is time. The EPA expects states to have a state implementation plan by June, 2016. By 2020, Arizona is expected to meet 77% of the 2030 goal of 702 CO₂ emissions. In the span of six years, Arizona is required to reduce its emissions drastically with little time to spare.