By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 29 -- Houston-based Tractebel North America Inc. (TNA)'s planned natural gas pipeline from the Bahamas to Florida received a boost Jan. 23 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) concluding that the US portion of the project can be built with minimal impact to the environment.
FERC's FEIS is the last remaining step before it issues a certificate authorizing construction; TNA said it expects to receive that shortly. In addition to its FERC application, TNA has filed numerous other permit applications with federal, state, and local agencies. The project has received an Approval in Principle from the Bahamas government and is awaiting the final approval, as well as that country's EIS.
Construction is scheduled to begin this year with gas deliveries beginning in 2007.
The 165 mile, 24-in. Tractebel Calypso Pipeline LLC pipeline would deliver 832 MMcfd of gas from the planned Tractebel Calypso LNG regasification facility at Freeport, Grand Bahama, to a connection to Florida Gas Transmission Co.'s mainline system adjacent to Florida Pipe Line Co.'s Fort Lauderdale plant. That is 6.2 miles inland from Port Everglades where the pipeline would make landfall.
According to the Florida Public Service Commission, the state's electricity demand is expected to increase 25% in the next 5 years. The Tractebel Calypso pipeline is designed to satisfy about 40% of Florida's projected increase in electric generation capacity over the next 10 years. To date, Tractebel has supplied nearly half of all US imported LNG.
TNA is the business unit of Tractebel Electricity & Gas International, a subsidiary of Brussels-based Tractebel SA.