The days are short and nights are cold across Ohio, but thankfully our state’s natural gas industry continues to ensure Ohioans a warm and safe winter.

Last month’s polar vortex was another reminder of the importance of local, abundant, affordable and reliable natural gas.

Ohio’s natural gas industry is crucial to our electricity grid and households.

Ohio is part of the PJM regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in parts of 12 states and Washington, D.C. Of the roughly 100,000+ megawatts flowing through the PJM grid on any given day, natural gas is the dominant fuel source. Nuclear and coal are second and third, respectively, and renewables fill in the remainder.

This means that, as goes natural gas, so goes the PJM grid. Last month, PJM set a new record for electricity demand with a 145,000-megawatt peak on Jan. 22. Fortunately for Ohio and PJM, the natural gas producers, infrastructure, and generators rose to the occasion by not only providing enough electricity in PJM, but exporting 8,000 megawatts to neighboring grids to help keep the lights on across the country.

Even more impressive is that this is done with natural gas infrastructure not historically designed to support electric generation and without the monopolistic support that electric transmission infrastructure receives.

Ohio is a natural gas juggernaut. In fact, Ohio produces more natural gas per year than it consumes, making it an exporter of this vital energy resource. Ohio ranks 10th nationally in overall energy production and seventh in natural gas production.

Much of the natural gas is consumed by the many gas generation facilities across the state, which provide electricity for Ohioans. The electric power sector is the state's largest natural gas consumer and has been since 2018. In 2023, electric generation in Ohio consumed a record amount of natural gas and accounted for two-fifths of the state’s consumption.

The key now is to ensure the infrastructure to deliver gas to these plants is built and maintained, which includes interstate pipelines, intrastate pipelines and natural gas storage. Whether you are building generation behind the meter or into the existing system, having gas available when it is most needed is critical.

We take for granted that Ohio already has the seventh-largest natural gas storage capacity in the country. The state’s 24 underground natural gas storage fields have a combined storage capacity of about 575 billion cubic feet, approximately 6% of the total U.S. storage capacity.

Unfortunately, storage capacity has increased only 12% nationally since 2005 to meet growing demand. The good news is that Ohio is uniquely situated to achieve these important goals.

When the next polar vortex hits, you can thank Ohio’s natural gas producers for enabling and maintaining our warmth, safety and modern way of life.