FERC on Wednesday issued ANR Pipeline a certificate for its EastLeg pipeline loop and compression project to provide gas deliveries to satisfy expanding power generation demand in Wisconsin.

The project calls for ANR to replace 4.7 miles of loop pipeline with 30-inch diameter pipe on the mainline between West Bend and Jackson in Washington County, WI; install 3.5 miles of eight-inch diameter pipeline loop on its existing Denmark Lateral near Little Rapids in Brown County, WI; re-wheel the existing 9,100 horsepower compressor unit; and add gas cooling facilities at ANR’s Mountain Compressor Station in Oconto County.

The facilities would provide up to 143,000 Dth/d of pipeline capacity to serve new power plants in the state. The estimated cost of the project is $18.7 million, according to the pipeline [CP04-51].

ANR said the project is designed to meet the needs of the growing number of new plants in the state. Milwaukee, WI-based Wisconsin Electric Power Co. (WEPCO), a midsize electric and natural gas utility, is building a 1,090 MW plant in Port Washington, Ozaukee County, with commercial operation slated to begin on July 1, 2005. Calpine Corp. is constructing a 600 MW Fox Energy Center in Kaukauna, Outagamie County, with commercial operation due to start on June 1, 2005.

ANR has executed 10-year precedent agreements with WEPCO to provide firm service for 70,000 Dth/d and with Wisconsin Public Service Corp., a Green Bay, WI-based investor owned electric and gas utility, for firm service of 25,600 Dth/d, totaling 95,600 Dth/d.

Service will be provided under ANR’s Rate Schedule FTS-3, which will permit the shippers to take their entire daily volumes in 16 hours, as opposed to 24 hours under ANR’s other firm transportation rate schedules. As a result, the ANR expansion will need to accommodate up to 143,000 Dth/d of firm capacity on a “steady-state basis,” the order said, adding that “95,600 Dth/d divided by 16 hours times 24 hours equals 143,000 Dth/d.”

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