Williams Receives, Requests FERC Approval for Transco Projects
Williams announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Transco’s application to expand its mainline pipeline system and construct an 11-mile pipeline lateral connecting Transco to an electric power generating facility in Cecil County, Maryland.
The Rock Springs expansion project is designed to transport 192,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day to Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s planned Wildcat Point Generation Facility. That facility is expected to generate approximately 1,000 megawatts, enough to power 390,000 homes in the region.
“The economic and environmental benefits of natural gas are driving tremendous demand for natural gas to fire electric power generating facilities like this,” said Frank Ferazzi, vice president and general manager of Williams’ Transco pipeline. “The Rock Springs expansion project is another in a long list of projects designed to meet growing natural gas driven power generation that Transco has completed over the past few years and is among $4.8 billion in transmission projects we expect to place into service through 2017 to meet power generation, industrial and local distribution needs.”
Transco is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing interstate natural gas transmission pipeline system. It delivers natural gas to customers through its 10,200-mile pipeline network whose mainline extends nearly 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York City. The system is a major provider of cost-effective natural gas services that reach U.S. markets in 12 Southeast and Atlantic Seaboard states, including major metropolitan areas in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Williams also announced that it filed an application with FERC for its Dalton Expansion Project, which would support providing Marcellus shale gas to the Southeast for electricity generation and local natural gas distribution. For the Dalton Expansion Project, Transco has executed long-term agreements with shippers for 100 percent of the 448,000 dekatherms of firm transportation capacity to be created under the project.
The project will consist of an expansion of Transco’s mainline from its Station 210 in New Jersey to points as far south as Holmesville, Mississippi, and a new 111-mile lateral pipeline from Transco’s Station 115 to Murray County, Georgia. Also included in the expansion is a new compressor facility in Carroll County, Georgia, as well as three new metering facilities and other related pipe and valve modifications to existing facilities.
“As long-term demand for natural gas continues to grow, particularly in the power-generation sector, we’re executing a series of large-scale, integrated projects like the Dalton Expansion that move surging supplies in the northeast to high-value markets along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Southeast,” said Rory Miller senior vice president of Williams’ Atlantic-Gulf operating area. “These projects create the durable, fee-based revenues that represent the vast majority of our business. Over the next three years, 99 percent of Williams Partners’ planned $9 billion of growth capital is going toward fully-contracted, fee-based projects.”
To fund the lateral pipeline portion of the project, Williams Partners’ Transco and AGL Resources’ Dogwood Enterprise Holdings, Inc. have entered into an ownership arrangement whereby each party will hold a 50 percent undivided joint ownership interest in the lateral pipeline in Georgia. Under the proposal, Dogwood Enterprises will lease its ownership interest in the lateral to Transco. Transco’s net investment in the project is expected to be approximately $275 million.
Williams and AGL Resources initially disclosed their intent to develop the project in March 2014. Siting and environmental studies have been underway since that time, and today’s announcement signifies the commencement of the FERC approval process. Construction is planned to begin in the third quarter of 2016 with completion targeted for 2017, subject to all necessary or required approvals by regulatory bodies, including the FERC.
Tags: FERC, Marcellus shale, Transco, Williams
