UGI details plans for $160M pipeline project

UGI Corp. of Reading, one of the lead partners in the PennEast Pipeline Partners, which is planning a $1 billion, more than 100-mile pipeline through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has announced plans for a second, smaller pipeline.

UGI Energy Services LLC says it plans to build an approximately 35-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania to a planned 1,000-megawatt power generation facility near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County.

UGI Sunbury LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UGI Energy Services LLC, said it will file this year for approval to build and operate the pipeline, seeking the OK from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that regulates transportation of natural gas. The company had issued a pre-filing request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December with regard to this project.

The 20-inch diameter, steel pipeline will be designed to transport 200,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas. It is expected to cost about $160 million and to be in service in early 2017.

UGI said that later this year Panda Power Funds of Dallas, Texas, and Sunbury LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UGI Energy Services LLC, will file for approval to build and operate the pipeline. They will seek the OK from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that regulates transportation of natural gas. The company had issued a pre-filing request with the FERC in December with regards to this project. Sunbury Generation LP plan to build a new natural gas “Hummel Station” power plant on the site of an existing coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam that has been retired.

“Power generators in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic are moving to local natural gas as the fuel of choice because it is a clean, abundant and affordable resource that reduces carbon emissions and complies with stringent air-quality rules,” said UGI president and CEO John Walsh. “This project serves to meet the growing demand for natural gas from power generators, while providing greater system reliability and enhancing natural gas availability for our expanding customer base in communities across central and northeast Pennsylvania served by UGI Penn Natural Gas and UGI Central Penn Gas.”

The new Hummel plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2017. Panda Power described the plant construction as one of the largest coal-to-natural gas conversion projects in the United States.

In addition to serving the generation plant, the new pipeline will supply natural gas and system reinforcement to distribution systems operated by UGI Penn Natural Gas Inc. and UGI Central Penn Gas Inc.

Source: LVB.com