So, you are saying that renewables and natural gas go together like peas in a pod?
That I am, bucko.
I think I not need to remind you that the Sun doth not shine the clock around, nor doth the wind blow unceasingly. If you want to shut down a coal plant then you need something to fill out the solar/wind gaps or the grid won't function.
I have some question about NG/methane as a considerable amount of methane is released in coal mining and processing. A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that surface mined coal releases 1.91 grams of methane per kilogram and underground mined coal releases 4.23 grams of methane per kilogram.
Pamela L. Spath et al, "Life Cycle Analysis of Coal-Fired Power Production," National Renewable Energy Laboratory, June 1999
I see anti-fracking people bringing up the NG leakage problem, which is real. But I do not see them considering the methane released when coal is mined. There is also methane released when coal is crushed prior to burning. Coal might be much, much worse than NG even with NG leaks.
That said, let's assume NG is as bad as coal. About 50% as bad in terms of CO2 and there's the methane leak problem. If that assumption is true ( which I question) then a 1:1 coal:NG exchange wouldn't get us anywhere.
But we aren't looking at a 1:1 exchange. As we add wind and solar we are able to turn off gas plants. A mix of 40% wind, 30% solar, and 30% NG would mean 0.3x as much atmospheric damage as all coal. Not perfect, but a lot better than all coal.
Gradually battery prices are dropping so that we can replace gas fill-in with storage. That's happening on a small scale. There are several pilot projects where grids are working with battery storage so they can determine the best way to implement. Battery prices are now low enough to justify their use in a few high priced grids such as Hawaii.
Peas in a pod. Next generation of pods should have more storage and less NG. Progress....