Decarbonizing New England: Clean Fuels for a Gas-Heavy Grid
New England states rely heavily on natural gas power plants—many of them aging turbines that are expensive to replace and hard to retire. But new opportunities are emerging. Renewable natural gas, hydrogen co-firing, and carbon capture with utilization or storage can accelerate power-sector decarbonization while supporting waste management, agriculture, and industrial innovation across the region.
Even as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and other New England states accelerate offshore wind and solar energy, natural gas still dominates. New England’s electricity generation—and many of the region’s turbines—are decades old and difficult to decarbonize.
A growing set of technologies—renewable natural gas (RNG); clean hydrogen; and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)—provide credible pathways to slash emissions from these existing units now, rather than relying solely on decommissioning and replacing them with renewables. Together, they open a near-term opportunity for New England to decarbonize its power sector.
Mapping the Region’s Natural Gas Turbines. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory maintains a powerful database that charts natural-gas-fired turbines across the United States (Figure 1). Many turbines already carry original equipment manufacturer (OEM) certifications allowing partial hydrogen co-firing—often 15% to 50% by volume—providing a direct pathway to lower-carbon electricity. Across New England, the dominant turbine OEMs include General Electric (GE), Siemens Energy, Mitsubishi Power, and Solar Turbines.
A Clean Hydrogen Opportunity—Sourced from Waste. Hydrogen’s carbon footprint depends on how it is produced. In New England, one of the most promising pathways is biomass-waste gasification coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Gasification partially oxidizes biomass at high temperatures in a controlled, oxygen-limited environment. Instead of burning the material, it converts it into a hydrogen-rich synthesis gas (syngas) and a separate, concentrated CO2 stream—making CO2 capture far easier and lower-cost than capturing dilute CO2 from natural-gas combustion.
This pathway yields clean hydrogen while mitigating emissions from waste biomass. When biogenic CO2 from gasification is captured and stored, the system delivers true carbon removal.
Because New England generates steady volumes of forestry and agricultural residues , hydrogen from biomass can be deployed at meaningful scale. Coupled with CCS, this pathway can even achieve net-negative emissions, supporting the New England states’ long-term climate targets.
Unlocking Renewable Natural Gas. States in the region can expand renewable natural gas production from dairy, food, and municipal waste. Anaerobic digesters convert organic waste into biogas, which can be upgraded into pipeline-quality renewable natural gas (RNG) for system blending or direct use in power plants. RNG is a drop-in decarbonization option for existing turbines while addressing methane emissions.
What to Do with the CO2. New England does not currently have commercial-scale geological storage, but it offers other promising storage options. The CO2 can be transported to nearby hubs, regions with suitable geology, or mineralized in building-material feedstocks—including concrete and aggregates.
A belt of ultramafic and mafic rocks across the region could enable in-situ or ex-situ mineralization. These rocks naturally react with CO2 to form stable carbonate minerals, permanently locking the carbon away.
New England states could potentially capture CO2 from hydrogen production, RNG upgrading, and gas turbine retrofits, and transport it short distances—by truck or rail—to nearby regions with suitable geologic formations. As federal agencies continue to map carbon storage potential in the Eastern U.S., New England states could position themselves as nodes in a regional mineralization network.
Early coordination could help unlock shared infrastructure, permitting pathways, and cost-effective transportation systems—while enabling access to the 45Q tax credit for geologic storage and for CO2 utilization routes that form durable products like mineralized aggregates used in concrete.
A Systems Approach to Statewide Decarbonization. By combining hydrogen co-firing, RNG expansion, and CCUS, New England can transform its existing gas fleet from a liability into a flexible bridge to a clean energy future. These strategies align with many states’ decarbonization roadmaps and complement the growth of offshore wind, transmission upgrades, and electrification.
The path forward is clear: decarbonize what we already have while building the future we need. Clean fuels from waste streams, paired with carbon capture and smart infrastructure, give New England a powerful set of tools to deliver reliable, low-carbon electricity—and create new economic opportunities across agriculture, waste management, and advanced manufacturing.
Haley McKey
Senior FellowHaley McKey is a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center. She is a carbon dioxide removal communications strategist with a passion for community engagement and responsible CDR deployment.
Hélène Pilorgé
Research Associate, Clean Energy Conversions LabHélène Pilorgé is a research associate with the University of Pennsylvania’s Clean Energy Conversions Laboratory. Her research focuses on carbon accounting of various carbon management solutions and on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping for responsible deployment of carbon management.
Hong-Hanh Chu
Policy Advisor, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental AffairHong-Hanh Chu is a policy advisor for Carbon Sequestration & Storage at Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Shrey Patel
PhD Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringShrey Patel is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the integration of carbon dioxide removal with low carbon energy sources.
Makenna Damhorst
Undergraduate Seminar FellowMakenna Damhorst is a third year student in earth and environmental science. Damhorst is also a 2025 Undergraduate Student Fellow. She conducts research with the Clean Energy Conversions Laboratory.
Jennifer Wilcox
Presidential Distinguished ProfessorJen Wilcox is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy. She previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy.
