NationalGrid LNG LLC on April 1 asked FERC for a certificate of public convenience for authorizationto construct, own and operate a project that would add natural gas liquefactionfacilities at the company's LNG storage facility in Providence, R.I.
The indirect,wholly owned subsidiary of NationalGrid plc's National GridUSA said its Fields Point liquefaction project will include one gaspretreatment and liquefaction system with a capacity of 20 million standard cubicfeet per day. The company asked FERC to grant authorization by Oct. 31, so thatit can begin construction in December to meet a December 2018 in-service date.
In itscurrent form, the NGLNG storage facility is used by three firm storage customersfor peak-shaving services. LNG is delivered to the storage facility by tanker trucksand redelivered from storage to the customers' trucks or is vaporized and deliveredto the customers at a point on SpectraEnergy Partners LP's AlgonquinGas Transmission LLC system by displacement.
Two ofthe customers asked NGLNG for the Fields Point liquefaction project, which wouldlet them deliver gas in gaseous state that would then be liquefied for storage atthe site, as an alternative to delivering LNG to the site by tanker trucks.
"Whilethere are currently a number of proposals to increase the interstate pipeline capacityinto the region, these expansions do not displace the need for the local distributioncompanies to maintain distribution level LNG peak-shaving storage facilities asboth an economically efficient means of supplying needle peaks in demand but alsofor use in pressure regulation on the distribution systems," the applicationstated. "The addition of a liquefaction capability by NGLNG will provide NGLNG'scustomers with more flexibility in sourcing their LNG and at a potentially lower-costbecause of the price difference that exists between the North American-sourced gasand imported supplies."
The liquefactionsystem would employ an electric-driven, closed-loop, nitrogen-refrigeration-cycleprocess to convert gas, supplied by utility infrastructure, to liquid before storingit in the facility's existing LNG storage tank. The design of the proposed facilitieswould not require relocation of the cryogenic piping, storage or vaporization equipment.
The projectdoes not involve an LNG export or import terminal. (CP16-121)
NGLNGasked FERC to accept FieldsPoint into the prefiling review process in June 2015.
"Pipelinesupplies to the Northeast U.S. have historically been constrained during . This conditionhas led to a regional dependence on liquefied natural gas for peak supplies whereapproximately 40% of regional peak day supplies are provided by re-gasified LNG,"NGLNG said in its prefiling application. (PF15-28)