A system for using natural gas to safely provide large amounts (at least
30 megawatts) of electricity to consumers. The system includes a floating
generating vessel (110) that lies offshore and carries one or more
turbine-generator sets (114, 116) that use natural gas as fuel and whose
electricity output is delivered though a power line (138) that extends at
least partially in the sea to a consumer. One consumer is a process
vessel (112) that processes natural gas and that has transfer facilities
(68) that transfer liquified gas to or from a tanker (106) that holds
over 10,000 tons of liquified gas. Some of the gas is transferred from
the process vessel through a conduit (136) in the sea to the generating
vessel (110) to provide fuel. Another consumer is an onshore facility
(52). The generating and process vessels (110, 112) are widely separated
(e.g. at least 0.2 kilometer) to protect personnel in the event of a gas
explosion or fire. The separate generating and process vessels enable
rapid acquisition of the vessels, which is especially useful to quickly
supply large quantities of electricity in newly developed areas.