Power plants fueled by natural gas provided 39.5 percent of the power generated in New England in 2014, an increase from the previous year but lower than the 2012 peak, according to regional grid administrator ISO New England.
The 39.5 percent was the second-highest since ISO started keeping track in 2000. The dependency was an increase from the 37.1 percent in 2013 but still off the high of 42.4 percent in 2012.
Although natural gas has been the fuel of choice for New England power plants since 2001, the region’s dependency on the fossil fuel jumped significantly in 2011, after the commodity price of natural gas dropped, pushing out other power plants using coal and oil.
ISO has worked to mitigate the region’s dependency on natural gas, as the reliance on the single fuel can lead to problems like the winter of 2014 when supplies became constraint, driving up the price of the commodity and electricity.
Nuclear was the second most popular fuel in New England in 2014, supplying 34 percent of all power generated, followed by renewables (8.6 percent), hydro (8 percent), oil (5.3), and coal (4.7).
