The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has received several new applications for short pipeline projects that would help serve gas-fired generation displacing coal-fired units.
Equitrans has proposed a 140,000 Dt/d natural gas pipeline project to serve an 830-MW, combined-cycle power plant planned in Brooke County, West Virginia, by ESC Brooke County Power to sell generation into PJM Interconnection through existing transmission lines nearby.
According to a Public Service of Commission of West Virginia order granting a siting certificate, the power plant will "help meet PJM's projected load forecast in light of many coal-fired plant closures" and help balance intermittent output of renewables or variation in supply and demand. It referenced 29,192 MW of retirements in PJM from 2011 through 2020.
The 16.7-mile, 16-inch-diameter Tri-State Corridor Project would run from Washington County, Pennsylvania, to Brooke County. It is designed to receive its supply from Rover Pipeline and two intrastate pipelines, according to the application filed with FERC May 31 (CP19-473). The power plant developer has a binding precedent agreement for the full capacity.
Equitrans is seeking certificate approval by May 31, 2020, to meet an August 2021 in-service date that would allow the power plant to receive test gas by September 2021, to begin the commissioning process so that the plant can start full operations in June 2022.
FLORIDA EXPANSION
Separately, Florida Gas Transmission has proposed a 21-mile, 169,000 MMBtu/d, pipeline project to increase Seminole Electric Cooperative volumes at the SeaCoast Gas Transmission delivery point in Putnam County, Florida.
The Putnam Expansion Project would allow previously unsubscribed firm capacity available on FGT's West Leg system to be moved to FGT's East Leg mainline, according to an application filed with FERC May 31 (CP19-474). This would be accomplished through loop extensions on the East Leg mainline to meet SECI's contractual firm volumes at the SeaCoast Gas Transmission delivery point in Putnam County.
Downstream of the delivery point, SeaCoast plans to build a roughly 21.3-mile pipeline to ship gas to an existing SECI power plant, which will be replaced by a gas-fired, combined-cycle unit.
The Putnam Expansion entails about 13.7 miles of 30-inch-diameter loop extension in Columbia and Union counties, along with seven miles of 30-inch-diameter loop extension in Clay and Putnam counties and other modifications in Orange County to FGT's existing Compressor Station 18 to allow for bi-directional flows.
According to the application at FERC, CS-18 will be able to discharge and flow from south to north to accommodate the total deliveries at the FGT/SeaCoast interconnection. FGT said the design could reduce fuel use at the station by allowing compressor units to come offline more often.
GULFSTREAM PROJECT
Gulfstream Natural Gas System also proposed the Phase VI Expansion project, designed to add about 78,000 Dt/d of mainline capacity from receipt points in Mississippi and Alabama to a delivery point in Manatee County, Florida.
Tampa Electric, which is transforming one unit at a coal-fired station in Hillsborough County, Florida, into a combined-cycle gas generating unit, has a 25-year precedent agreement for the full capacity.
The project "is designed to transport 78,000 Dt/d of firm natural gas supplies from points in Mississippi and Alabama across the Gulf of Mexico to the power station" and will support Tampa Electric's expanding natural gas pipeline transportation portfolio, the abbreviated application (CP19-475) said.
Gulstream is seeking FERC's signoff by June 1, 2020, to allow the facilities to begin service by December 2022. The FERC review schedule will give Gulfstream time to get a special permit from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to increase maximum allowable operating pressure on a 55-mile offshore segment of Gulfstream's system, it said.
The project facilities entail one 16,000 hp compressor unit at an existing station in Mobile County, Alabama; four miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline onshore in Mobile County; abandonment of a four-mile segment; uprating the MAOP of the 55-mile segment in offshore in Mobile County; metering equipment; and other facilities.
