A trio of Northeast pipelines is offering capacity on what they are touting as a solution to natural gas shortages in New England and Atlantic Canada.

Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS), TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. (TCPL) and Iroquois Gas Transmission System LP (IGTS) are holding simultaneous open seasons for up to 300,000 Dth/d of capacity to move gas from the Wright Hub in Wright, NY, to New England, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, at a combined, fixed transportation rate of $1.37/Dth. The capacity could be available as early as Nov. 1, 2017, the partners said.

The project would make use of existing pipeline for much of its route, the partners said, thus lowering costs and minimizing environmental impacts. “With a fixed-price offering, the project provides price certainty while negating the risk of construction overrun costs for shippers,” the partners said.

“Over the past 18 months, numerous government agencies and industry associations have launched a variety of initiatives which have concluded that additional firm natural gas supplies are urgently needed in New England,” the companies said. “These same conclusions hold true for markets located in Atlantic Canada.

“By participating in the three open seasons being announced today by PNGTS, TCPL, and IGTS, local distribution companies, electric generators, marketers, producers and industrial end-users will be able to secure a firm transportation capacity path for additional supplies to their markets that offers price certainty and timing certainty only available from modification of existing facilities.”

PNGTS said in a customer notice that it’s open season actually is a reopening of the Continent to Coast (C2C) Expansion Project binding open season (see Daily GPI, Dec. 3, 2013). It is to run concurrently with the new TransCanada and IGTS open seasons, PNGTS said. The C2C open season runs through Feb. 27. In addition, Union Gas Ltd. will also be offering capacity to align with the C2C open season, PNGTS said.

“By leveraging readily expansible, existing pipeline capacity, C2C allows shippers to flow gas from North American supply basins, such as Marcellus, Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Midcontinent and others via TransCanada Pipeline, into PNGTS. Atlantic Canada markets can access C2C via PNGTS’s interconnect with Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline at Westbrook, ME.

IGTS said its open season is for the pipeline’s South-to-North Project (SoNo), which is proposed to provide shippers with the opportunity to deliver gas to points as far north as TransCanada at Waddington, NY. Traditionally a north-to-south pipeline, SoNo would reverse flow on the Iroquois system, providing new deliverability options for shippers to serve eastern Canadian and northern New England markets. SoNo would transport up to 650,000 Dth/d from Iroquois’ existing interconnects with Dominion Transmission in Canajoharie, NY, and Algonquin Gas Transmission in Brookfield, CT, as well as the Constitution Pipeline in Wright, NY.

A new report just released from Synapse Energy Economics said Massachusetts power generators will need more pipeline capacity to meet their energy requirements through 2030 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 12).

Meanwhile, an executive with National Grid has asked FERC to expedite its review of Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC’s proposed Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) expansion project. The AIM Project calls for construction of approximately 37.6 miles of pipeline in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, and would create up to 342,000 Dth/d of firm transportation capacity to markets in the Northeast (see Daily GPI, Jan. 5).

Additionally, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co’s Northeast Energy Direct project is being developed to serve New England with additional gas supplies to meet the growth needs of local distribution companies, enable New England to sustain its reliance on natural gas-fired generation and lower energy costs by providing access to Marcellus Shale gas (see Daily GPI, Dec. 8, 2014; Sept. 18, 2014).