In a reversal, plans for U.S. natural gas power grow, complicating progress on climate

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A spike in demand for electricity from tech companies competing in the artificial intelligence race is upending forecasts for natural gas-fired power in the U.S., as utilities reconsider it as a major new power source.

That is not what many scientists and climate activists envisioned in the fight against climate change. And it is endangering progress on the greenhouse gas-reduction goals that scientists say are necessary to manage the damage from burning fossil fuels that warms the planet.

Across the nation, tech companies are snapping up real estate and seeking new power projects to feed their energy-hungry operations.

In some cases, Big Tech is building climate-friendlier projects like solar, wind, geothermal or battery storage.

But industry decision-makers are also turning to natural gas for what they say is a cheap and reliable source of power, raising the prospect that gas-fired power will play a bigger role — and for a longer period of time — than even they had anticipated.

“Gas is growing faster now and in the medium term than ever before,” said Corianna Mah, a power and renewables analyst at data analytics firm Enverus.

Before the spike in electricity demand last year, many in the industry had assumed that there would be few new gas plants and that the nation’s fleet would gradually retire in favor of a grid powered by wind, solar, geothermal, batteries and possibly the next generation of nuclear power — sources that don’t emit the planet-warming greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

For many countries, that ramp down is happening as they work toward the goal of slashing their emissions to zero — or at least, net zero — by 2050, which scientists say could help the world avoid the worst effects of climate change.

In the U.S., the electric power sector is the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to government figures. And the construction of every new natural gas plant — built to last for decades — is a setback for climate goals, said John Quigley, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

“At a top level, we will not get to net zero by 2050 if we are building new gas plants. Period,” Quigley said.

Burning natural gas emits carbon dioxide, and before that, when it escapes from wellheads or pipelines in its unburned form, it’s an even more potent greenhouse gas called methane.

Quigley and others say there is enough solar, wind and battery storage projects on the…