FERC on Monday authorized ANR Pipeline Co. (ANR) to begin service on its brownfield Wisconsin South Expansion Project, enabling an additional 230,950 Dth/d of capacity serving markets in northern Illinois and Wisconsin in time for the upcoming heating season.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff gave ANR the green light to place project facilities in Kane and Kendall counties, IL, and in Rock and Sheboygan counties, WI, into service.

The Wisconsin South Expansion Project, which received a FERC certificate last November, includes a new 6,130 hp gas-fired compressor unit and related facilities at the existing Sandwich Compressor Station in Kendall County; the replacement of a 0.54-mile stretch of 16 inch-diameter pipeline with 24-inch diameter pipe to increase capacity from the Hampshire Meter Station in Kane County to an interconnect with Nicor Gas Co.; and various other upgrades and replacements in Illinois and Wisconsin.

ANR secured binding commitments from four customers for the project’s full capacity during an open season held in 2014, FERC documents show.

A subsidiary of TransCanada Corp., ANR operates roughly 10,600 miles of pipeline located across the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Midcontinent with peak day delivery capacity of over 6 Bcf. ANR Pipeline, ANR Storage and Blue Lake Gas Storage have a combined underground storage capacity of more than 250 Bcf.

With new Appalachian takeaway projects coming online this year to join existing capacity out of the Northeast and from other producing regions, Midwest markets figure to be well-supplied with natural gas for Winter 2018/19. Earlier this month, FERC authorized the Nexus Gas Transmission pipeline to enter service, adding close to 1 Bcf/d of east-to-west capacity out of the Marcellus and Utica shales targeting markets in Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

After flowing its first volumes last fall, the east-to-west Rover Pipeline has placed a large chunk of its designed 3.25 Bcf/d capacity into service over the course of this year, adding to a growing list of options for Northeast producers to reach markets in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada.

Rover has been delivering more than 1 Bcf/d into ANR at an interconnect in northwest Ohio, NGI’s daily Rover Tracker shows.