Electrical Energy Production from Natural Gas. Technical and Economic Performances during the Last Twenty Years

During the last twenty years (2000 - 2020) natural gas was the second fuel for electrical energy production. Even if its availability could be affected by force majeure events because of its geographical distribution, it has still a great share in many countries. The paper presents an analysis of the last twenty years of natural gas production, it analyses the technical indicators (i.e., capacity factor, energy efficiency and emissions) as well as the levelized cost of energy. The work is based on data publicly available, evaluating the actual working conditions of the power plants supplied by natural gas. Main outcomes show that actual indicators are significantly lower than rated values; this is mainly due to market conditions that are often unfavorable for production from coal. Finally, the results can be used for adjusting the most recent energy policies, that are going to face new market conditions because of force majeure events (i.e., Ukraine invasion) as well as decarbonization processes, already developed in many European countries.