Williams Cos. highlights underground infrastructure’s role in surging natural gas demand at UIC 2025

By Mary Holcomb, Digital Editor

(UI) — At the Underground Infrastructure Conference on March 5, Glenn Koch, Vice President-Project Execution at Williams Co., addressed the growing demand for natural gas and the role underground infrastructure will play in meeting energy needs. Speaking during the Energy Pipelines Program, Koch highlighted significant increases in peak-day demand for natural gas, driven by the power sector and the rise of data centers.

Looking ahead, Koch expressed confidence in the continued expansion of underground infrastructure to meet surging energy needs. "Whether it’s the major utilities along the eastern seaboard or companies like Williams, natural gas is needed for all of it," he stated.

“Williams has quietly become the largest owner and operator of underground storage on the Gulf Coast. We’ve made a couple of very strategic acquisitions,” Koch said. “The underground storage market has been somewhat muted over the past few years, and so we're seeing an increase in demand without a corresponding growth in our ability to store gas underground. However, we believe that over time, we’ll see some upticks in the build-out of underground storage and infrastructure to connect that to the facilities."

He also acknowledged potential constraints in equipment availability, noting that the industry may struggle to keep up with demand.

"We are going to outpace our ability to buy gas turbines and electrical equipment to serve these very quickly," he cautioned. Despite these challenges, Williams sees immense opportunity in supporting the energy transition while ensuring reliability for large-scale power consumers.

Koch presented data showing how major system operators anticipate sharp increases in peak-day demand over the next 15 to 20 years.

"If you're a Texas resident, you know about the ERCOT system operator. They are expecting a 60% increase over the next 20 years in peak-day demand for natural gas, primarily for gas-fired power generation," he stated. Despite Texas’ heavy investments in wind and solar energy, natural gas remains essential for reliability, especially on peak days when renewable sources cannot meet demand.

Koch also scrutinized projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), noting that its forecasts have consistently underestimated actual gas demand.

"They were underestimated by more than 10% for the last three years running," he said, emphasizing that real-world consumption continues to exceed expectations.

The Impact of Data Centers

One of the primary drivers of increasing gas demand, according to Koch, is the explosion of data centers across the U.S.

"Data centers are a crazy thing," he remarked. "In their world, speed is king, and they are investing at dollar levels that dwarf what the oil and gas industry would invest to serve them."

Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are rapidly expanding their data operations, often requiring hundreds of megawatts of power on short timelines.

"They called the power generators and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to build a data center in Virginia, in Ohio, in Texas, and I need 400 megawatts, please,’ and the answer was, ‘Well, you want that in eight years or ten years?’ And the answer was, ‘I want that in two years,’" Koch explained.

When traditional power generators cannot keep up, these companies turn to natural gas suppliers like Williams. "People are knocking on our door saying, ‘I need this much gas’ at scales of larger expansions than we’ve seen in a long time," he said. In response, Williams has begun developing power generation solutions specifically for data centers, integrating gas supply and power production.

Williams recently announced its first major power generation project dedicated to a data center. "We just engaged in our first project that is not just providing gas to a couple of very large data center projects, but it is a turnkey solution to provide gas, gas supply marketing, and power generation," Koch revealed.

The project involves the construction of large-scale 250-megawatt power generation facilities, designed to support energy-intensive data centers.

"The data center that Williams will be building power generation for totals 500 megawatts across two sites," Koch noted. "For context, the entire city of San Antonio consumes 900 megawatts. That gives you an idea of the scale."

Related News

From Archive

• Most Read
• Most Commented