FERC issues impact statement for Transco expansion

Williams Companies’ Southside Reliability Enhancement project will boost the capacity of the Transco pipeline by 423,400 dekatherms per day. (Map: FERC.)

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a final environmental impact statement for Transco Gas Pipeline Company’s proposed Southside Reliability Enhancement project. Once fully approved, the proposed project would add a total of 423,400 dekatherms per day of pipeline capacity to the Transco system by the winter of 2024.

The FERC has concluded that the construction and operation of the proposed project would not have any significant effects on the environment after Williams, which owns and operates the Transco pipeline, implemented a series of mitigation efforts.

The project includes the installation of a new compressor station (Compressor Station 168,) which includes one new 33,000 hp electric motor-driven compressor unit and the installation of new mainline valves at the compressor station in Mecklenberg County, Virginia.

The project would also add one 16,000 hp electric motor driven compressor unit at the existing Compressor Station 166 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Transco proposes to install piping modifictions to allow for flow reversal at Compressor Station 155 in Davidson County, North Carolina and install new facilities to increase delivery volumes at the Pleasant Hill Metering Station in Northampton County North Carolina.

In addition, Transco is seeking authorization to upgrade meter and controls and debottlneck piping at the existing Iredell Meter Station in Iredell County, North Carolina.

Transco has also proposed a future expansion of Compressor Station 168 to provide an additional 105,000 Dth/d of year-round firm transportation capacity to Virginia Natural Gas from Transco’s Station 165 to an existing delivery point at the Emporia Metering and Regulating Station in Greensville County, Virginia. As part of that project, Transco plans to install a second 33,000-hp EMD compressor unit at Compressor Station 168 within the existing footprint constructed for the Southside Reliability Expansion Project.

Transco filed for authorization for the project with the FERC in May 2022. The company hopes to start construction in the summer of 2023 and to have it in operation in the winter of 2024.

Williams Companies operates the Transco pipeline, a 10,200-mile natural gas transportation system that extends from South Texas to New York City. The Transco pipeline is the nation’s largest-volume natural gas pipeline system, transporting about 15% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. In 2019, Transco delivered about 91% of the natural gas consumed in North Carolina.