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Pipeline capacity keeps up with surge in Fla. gas-fired power generation

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Pipeline capacity keeps up with surge in Fla. gas-fired power generation

Additions of natural gas pipeline capacity have matched the growth in gas-fired electric power generation in Florida, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

The delivery capacity of gas pipelines to Florida increased from 4.1 Bcf/d in 2008 to 6.2 Bcf/d in 2018, the agency said in a Sept. 9 report. In the same 10 years, Florida added about 16 GW of utility-scale gas-fired generation, the most of any state, the EIA said. In the first quarter of 2019, 1.8 GW of natural gas-fired electric power generator capacity came online in the state.

The EIA attributed the recent boosts in pipeline capacity to projects such as Sabal Trail Transmission LLC's up-to-1.1-Bcf/d, 515-mile Sabal Trail pipeline. The pipeline delivers gas from connections with the interstate pipeline system in Alabama to the middle of Florida to serve power plants owned by Florida Power & Light Co. and Duke Energy Florida LLC. Sabal Trail, an Enbridge Inc.-led joint venture, received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June 2017 to enter many of the first-phase facilities into service. The second phase of Sabal Trail is under construction and expected to deliver another 0.17 Bcf/d of transportation service to the Sunshine State in 2020, the EIA said.

The Sabal Trail pipeline is one of three parts of the Southeast Market Pipelines project designed to provide additional gas transportation capacity to Florida. Sabal Trail Transmission is a joint venture of Enbridge, Duke Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy Inc. (FERC docket CP15-17)

Other pipeline projects poised to serve Florida include a third phase of the Sabal Trail pipeline and a Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC expansion that will deliver gas to the Big Bend power plant in Tampa, Fla., where a coal-fired unit will convert to gas.