With Carbon Constraints Expected Generation Plants Must Clean Up or Pack Up
Midcentury electricity generation will not look radically different from what we have today. Carbon-rich fossil fuels—coal, natural gas and oil—still will drive most powerplants in the U.S., but they will emit far less carbon dioxide than today’s plants, thanks to improvements in technology for capturing and storing, or sequestering, CO2. Nuclear energy, which now meets 20% of U.S. demand, will still be a major source of electricity, experts say. Outwardly, the most apparent difference will be increased use of renewable energy, promoted by government policies that will require utilities to obtain a percentage of their power from wind, solar and other inexhaustible energy sources.
“The future will have more diverse generation,” says Juan De Bedout, manager of the research and development laboratory for electric power systems at GE Global Research, Niskayuna, N.Y. The central generating station will continue to be the backbone of the electric system, but the system will be “more of a hybrid with a central powerplant and distributed energy resources,” he says.