The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allowed the first phase of the Sabal Trail pipeline project of Enbridge Inc., NextEra Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. to enter service, a step toward 1.1 Bcf/d of new natural gas transportation capacity to serve power generation and other demand in Florida.

Rich McGuire, director of the FERC Division of Gas — Environment and Engineering, gave the companies' joint venture, Sabal Trail Transmission LLC, the authorization in a June 9 letter. The first-phase facilities covered by the authorization make up a big part of Sabal Trail pipeline: 482 miles of mainline between the northern interconnect in Tallapoosa County, Ala., and the southern interconnect in Osceola County, Fla.; the Alexander City compressor station in Tallapoosa County; the Reunion compressor station in Osceola County; and the Hillabee, Gulfstream and Florida Southeast Connection meter and regulator stations. (FERC docket CP15-17)

On June 7, FERC staff gave Williams Partners LP's Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC permission to put part of the first phase of its Hillabee natural gas expansion project in service. The Hillabee project is one of three connected projects under the Southeast Market Pipelines umbrella. (FERC docket CP15-16)

FERC approved the approximately $3.2 billion, 516-mile Sabal Trail pipeline and the related Hillabee expansion and NextEra's Florida Southeast Connection project in February 2016. At the time, the target for the first of three phases of Sabal Trail was May 1, 2017.