Tennessee Gas Pipeline has launched an open season for firm natural gas transportation capacity on its Connecticut Expansion Project, which will deliver gas from Tennessee’s existing interconnect with Iroquois Gas Transmission in Wright, NY, to Zone 6 delivery points located on Tennessee’s 200 and 300 Lines in Connecticut.

The project, which would require upgrades and modifications to its existing pipeline system within New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, is expected to be in service on Nov. 1, 2016. Available capacity would be about 72,100 Dth/d. The open season ends on July 31.

The pipeline said it has entered into binding precedent agreements with three anchor shippers.

Inexpensive shale gas has recently caught the attention of “The Constitution State.” Last month Connecticut gas distribution utilities Yankee Gas, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, filed a joint gas expansion plan with the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (see Daily GPI, June 18).

The plan outlines how the utilities will meet the gas expansion goals proposed in the governor’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy and the state’s recently enacted HB 6360 (see Daily GPI, March 12). The Utilities’ plan outlines a “structured approach” to add 280,000 new gas heating customers over the next 10 years. It includes a set of recommendations designed to help meet the new customer goal, including:

Yankee Gas COO Rod Powell told NGI last month that the additional 280,000-customer load will necessitate more upstream pipeline capacity to service the region beyond what would have been needed due to organic demand growth. This could come from capacity currently being offered by Algonquin Gas Transmission and/or Tennessee Gas Transmission, he said.

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