The Florida Public Service Commission has officially granted its approval to Chesapeake Utilities Corporation’s subsidiary, Peninsula Pipeline Company (PPC), for three new projects that will expand natural gas infrastructure to benefit customers of Florida City Gas (FCG), also a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities. According to certain reports, these projects are located in Florida’s Brevard, Indian River, and Miami-Dade counties. From these locations, they will bring renewable natural gas produced by local landfills into FCG’s natural gas distribution system. The idea behind doing so is to achieve increased gas supply to conceive expected FCG growth, strengthened system reliability, and better system flexibility. Talk about each project on a slightly deeper level, in Brevard County, the project will reinforce FCG’s system with a new alternative gas source, delivering augmented supply of 3,200 Dth/day into the FCG distribution system. Furthermore, it will create flow design enhancements that position FCG’s system to meet expected new demand growth in the county. Another detail worth a mention here is rooted in a fact that the Brevard County project will package approximately five miles of new transmission infrastructure with a total capital spend of approximately $6 million. Next up, we have the Indian River County project, which will look to realize interconnection of three existing transmission systems once completed. All in all, the new facilities here will result in 3,200 Dth/day of more supply into the FCG distribution system. This it will achieve by providing resiliency to customers and packaging approximately 14 miles of new transmission infrastructure, a district regulator station, a tie-in with FCG’s distribution system, and an interconnect with existing PPC facilities. As for the total spend on the Indian River County project, it is expected to reach the $18 million mark.
“These renewable natural gas infrastructure projects further demonstrate Chesapeake Utilities’ commitment to both growth and sustainability. These projects use methane that would otherwise escape into the environment and allow this renewable, locally sourced gas to be transported into our system for the beneficial use of our customers,” said Kevin Webber, senior vice president and chief development officer at Chesapeake Utilities Corporation. “They highlight our ability to meet customer demand by leveraging our transmission and distribution systems to safely and reliably deliver renewable natural gas into growing markets.”
The third and final project coming into play is situated in Miami-Dade County, where Chesapeake will bring an extra 6,700 Dth/day of capacity to the area via approximately eight miles-big new transmission infrastructure and a new district regulator station, which again happens to be tied in with FCG’s distribution system. In essence, this project will support the need for more gas supply in South Florida area, while simultaneously reinforcing FCG’s system with locally-sourced renewable natural gas. The investment earmarked for Miami-Dade county project is estimated to be $22 million.
Beyond the given projects, the Florida Public Service Commission also approved transfer of the Pioneer Supply Pipeline asset from FCG to PPC. Such a move allows Chesapeake Utilities to better align its assets and services within relevant subsidiaries. Markedly enough, though, Pioneer Supply will continue to provide service to FCG and FPU through two existing contracts, and owing to the development in question, it will only add two new delivery offtakes to serve additional gas supply needs for FPU.
Founded way back on 1859, Cheesapeake Utilities Corporation’s rise up the ranks stems from an ability to offer sustainable energy solutions through its natural gas transmission and distribution, electricity generation and distribution, propane gas distribution, mobile compressed natural gas, and renewable natural gas utility services. The company’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it has already been recognized as Best for Corporate Governance in the United States by World News Media Ltd.’s World Finance.
