US Dominance in Natural Gas: A Confluence of Technologies and Leadership

The United States is now the world's largest producer and net exporter of natural gas, producing a quarter of the global supply. This achievement marks a remarkable turnaround from 1977, when the Department of Energy declared that natural gas had no future.

It took the efforts of three presidents - Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush - to untie the regulatory knot that hindered natural gas development. The tech breakthroughs that changed gas from an orphan fuel into coal's heir also took many years, including horizontal drilling in the 1980s with hydraulic fracturing.

The Rayburn Energy Station in Sherman, Texas, is a prime example of this transformation. Built by Panda Power Funds LP and purchased by Rayburn Electric Cooperative in 2023, it represents a significant move into natural gas-fired generation. The original combined-cycle gas plant consists of two Siemens combustion turbines and one steam turbine, producing 758 megawatts of baseload power.

Environmentalists have criticized natural gas as a greenhouse gas-emitter, but utilities are looking to a mix of renewables and natural gas until new nuclear power arrives. Rayburn President and CEO David Naylor has embraced distributed generation - which links solar, conservation, demand-side load management, residential batteries, and consumer participation to create what is known as a virtual power plant.