Although still not under construction Texas-based Western HubProperties’ Lodi Underground Storage Project announced Thursday ithas a deal with power plant developer/operator Calpine Corp., ofSan Jose, CA to provide storage services for up to 4 Bcf of naturalgas used to fuel some of Calpine’s growing list of Californiagenerating plants.

The merchant storage operation that is billed as being”high-deliverability, high-injection” fits with Calpine’s strategicgoal to have more “highly reliable, flexible sources of naturalgas.” Lodi Gas Storage, located 50 miles east of San Francisco andabout half that distance south of Sacramento in the north end ofthe state’s agricultural-dominated central valley, is scheduled tostart construction Feb. 1 and begin operations in the fourthquarter of this year.

Designed to be interconnected with Pacific Gas and ElectricCo.’s backbone gas transmission network, Western Hub for some timehas had the piping and other equipment ordered for its delayedstorage project. It also is looking at a similar project in thesouthern half of the state, south of Bakersfield in the generalvicinity of Wheeler Ridge transmission pipeline hub.

The Lodi project is expected to provide “much needed natural gasbalancing and peaking services in the heart of the northernCalifornia load,” said Tom Dill, Texas-based CEO for Western Hub.”Calpine continues to demonstrate its foresight by acquiring theflexibility that will enable it to continue to be a low-costproducer of dependable electric power.”

In electricity-short California, Calpine has three gas-firedgenerating plants currently under construction, two of which comeonline this summer in northern California, and Brad Barnds, Calpinevice president, said Lodi should provide those operations with”value-added services.”

Lodi Gas Storage facilities overall are expected to have 12 Bcfof inventory capacity and 500 MMcf/d of deliverability. Its parentcompany, Western Hub Properties, Houston, views itself as the”fastest growing independent developer and operator of market areahigh-deliverability natural gas storage facilities.” It is owned byan energy partnership managed by Haddington Ventures, LLC, Houston.

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