Tennessee Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (TGP) has filed for a certificate with FERC to expand its system in Pennsylvania by 180,000 Dth/d to serve a new natural gas-fired power plant in the northeast part of the state that’s expected to be in-service by 2017.

In its application, TGP said its interstate pipeline system is fully subscribed in the region. It asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to grant it a certificate by May 2016 so that it can have the expansion complete by 2017 at Invenergy’s request.

The project would consist of constructing seven miles on new 36-inch diameter pipeline looping and include the installation of new a pig launcher and crossover and connecting facilities, as well as modifications to an existing compressor station.

TGP said the construction and modifications would occur on its 300 Line, which runs from Mercer County, PA, eastward through the state and into others before ending in Massachusetts. The expansion would deliver natural gas to an existing interconnection with utility UGI Corp., which would then deliver the gas from Susquehanna County directly to the new power plant in Lackawanna County, PA, TGP said.

Last year, Chicago-based Invenergy said it planned to develop a 1,300 MW natural gas-fired power plant in the county that would have an interconnect with PPL Electric Utilities Corp.’s Lackawanna Substation in the PJM interconnection system (see Daily GPI, Nov. 3, 2014). PPL Electric serves 1.4 million customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania. Construction on the Lackawanna Energy Center, as it would be called, is expected to start this year.

TGP said the project would cost $87.4 million. If approved by May 2016, the company would begin acquiring rights-of-way shortly after and start construction on the looping in 4Q2016.