Both Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas have jointly issued a solicitation to propose the building and operating of a second wholesale natural gas pipeline going into North Carolina. They maintain it will help meet the growing demand for fuel not only in the Carolinas, but also the surrounding states.
Duke Energy has to rely more and more on natural gas to produce electricity and Piedmont is dealing with increasing demands from its customers. In the solicitation, the companies claim this is enough to warrant a new pipeline that would bolster reliability and diversity of natural gas supplies. As it currently stands, North Carolina is served by a single major wholesale interstate natural gas pipeline that runs through out the state.
Both companies believe that a new pipeline would expand their “access to competitive, secure, diverse and abundant supplies” and “enhance the reliability of future natural gas deliveries into the state.” They seek an initial capacity of as much as 900 million cubic feet per day and are targeting a service date of late 2018.
The past winter saw extremely cold temperatures, which resulted in a high natural gas demand all over the US and utility industry observers have noted that an additional pipeline would help capacity especially during harsh weather.