Florida Gas Transmission Co. (FGT) reported that it has entered into a long-term firm transportation agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to deliver gas to the Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center located in Orange County near Orlando, FL from its latest 2003 mainline expansion project (tentatively referred to as Phase VI), to be revealed during the third quarter 2001.

OUC said it plans to construct a new gas-fired 633 MW power plant at the center, scheduled for operation in 2003. The electric generation facility is a joint development project of OUC, Southern Co. Florida LLC, the Kissimmee Utility Authority and the Florida Municipal Power Agency.

“FGT’s ability to expand the system in such a timely manner will help OUC meet its aggressive in-service date of 2003,” said Bob Haven, OUC’s CEO. “This is a very important part of our plan to serve our growing customer needs.”

FGT’s $268 million Phase IV expansion was placed in service on May 1, which expanded the system to 1.7 Bcf/d of capacity (see Daily GPI, May 2). The company’s $450 million Phase V expansion, which would add another 428 MMcf/d, received its Draft Environmental Impact Statement from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April and is still working through its necessary regulatory requirements. FGT said the target in-service date for Phase V is April 2002, with “a staggered implementation of customers” coming online into 2003. Phase V would bring the FGT system’s capacity to a total of more than 2 Bcf/d.

An FGT spokeswoman said the capacity and cost of the even newer 2003 expansion project are still under development as customer interest is still being gauged. She said the company would likely file the 2003 expansion with FERC during the third quarter 2001. Currently, the OUC is the first customer signed up for FGT’s latest expansion project.

“FGT is pleased to expand its pipeline system to meet the growing energy needs of the state of Florida, as well as be involved in OUC’s major electric generation project,” said Robert Hayes, managing director of marketing for FGT.

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