Needing to expand capacity and increase deliverability to itscustomers in Franklin County, MA, Berkshire Gas Co. hassuccessfully petitioned the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Boardfor the rights to build an LNG storage facility in Whatley, MA. Theboard ruled in favor of the $5 million facility last week.Berkshire will begin construction immediately and hopes to have thefacility running by late December.

The facility will be a purchaser, not an importer, of LNG, saidChris Farrell, corporate communications manager for Berkshire.Although he could not confirm it, Farrell said the facility willlikely buy the gas from Distrigas.

The facility will be used to store LNG which will be convertedto natural gas and injected into Berkshire’s distribution system tosupplement pipeline volumes during periods of peak demand. Over thecourse of the review process, the company considered more than 50potential sites for the facility in Franklin County. Berkshire saidthe Whately site, located on Long Plain Road, was determined tobest meet the criteria set forth by the Energy Facilities SitingBoard.

For more than three years, Berkshire Gas weighed alternativesand developed plans and analyses with the goal of expanding itsdelivery capacity in Franklin County. The decision to site an LNGfacility to meet growing demand represented a lower costalternative to expanding an existing gas line which runs fromNorthampton to Greenfield, the company said.

Berkshire, a subsidiary of Berkshire Energy Resources serving34,000 natural gas customers in western Massachusetts, filed itspetition for approval of the site with the Energy Facilities SitingBoard last February, following a comprehensive public process inWhately and surrounding towns. Thursday’s approval of that petitioncomes after a series of hearings on the Company’s petition andextensive consideration of the proposal by the Energy FacilitiesSiting Board, a regulatory arm of the Massachusetts Department ofTelecommunications and Energy.

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