Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy

This RMI briefing examines the economic risks of continuing to invest in natural gas power plants and interstate pipelines in the United States, arguing that falling costs of clean energy portfolios make these investments prone to becoming stranded assets.

• Clean energy portfolios (CEPs) consisting of wind, solar, and energy storage are now cost-competitive with new natural gas power plants and can provide equivalent grid reliability services.
• Of the more than $70 billion planned for new gas-fired power plant construction through 2025, 90% of the proposed capacity is more expensive than equivalent CEPs. These plants would likely become uneconomic to operate by 2035, creating stranded cost risks and locking in 100 million tons of annual CO2 emissions.
• The industry plans to invest $30 billion in new interstate pipelines through 2024, but falling demand from gas power plants is expected to reduce pipeline utilization. This decline in utilization could increase the average cost of delivered gas by 30% to 140% above expected levels.

APA

RMI (2019). Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy. https://rmi.org/resources/prospects-for-gas-pipelines-in-the-era-of-clean-energy/

Chicago

RMI. Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy. 2019. https://rmi.org/resources/prospects-for-gas-pipelines-in-the-era-of-clean-energy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy |date=7 March 2019 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/prospects-for-gas-pipelines-in-the-era-of-clean-energy/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2019prospects, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/prospects-for-gas-pipelines-in-the-era-of-clean-energy/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }