Williams Partners LP has placed the first phase of its Transco pipeline 85 North expansion into service, providing 90,000 Dth/d to fuel Constellation Energy‘s new 740 MW power plant in Tallapoosa County, AL. Phase II of the project will increase the pipeline’s capacity by an additional 218,500 Dth/d by summer 2011, serving new and existing power generating facilities in North Carolina. Phase I of the project required adding 17,900 hp at two compressor facilities in Alabama. Phase II will require the addition of approximately 22 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline in Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as a new 20,500 hp compressor facility in South Carolina and modifications to several existing compressor stations. The total cost of the project is about $241 million.

Calgary-based Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX), a subsidiary of TMX Group Inc., has added a natural gas clearing point at Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. in Michigan. The addition features a new NGX pool for physical clearing. The intrastate market in Michigan is one of North America’s most actively traded gas markets and serves as a natural bridge between U.S. and Canadian market participants, NGX said. NGX also announced that it has added two other hubs: Gas Transmission Northwest Stanfield in Oregon and Northern Border Pipeline Ventura Transfer Point in Iowa, bringing the total number of U.S. locations to 29.

Global energy investment firm ArcLight Capital Partners LLC has acquired a 640 MW natural gas-fired peaking generation plant in Georgia, through wholly owned affiliate AL Sandersville Holdings LLC, from KGen Power Corp. The purchase price was $130 million, ArcLight said. General Electric unit GE Energy Financial Services was the lead lender, closing a financing of $98 million in senior secured credit facilities that partially financed the acquisition. Located in Sandersville, GA, the peaking plant was built in 2002 and consists of eight 80 MW GE simple-cycle gas turbines. The new unit is located close to four other generation facilities owned by ArcLight through affiliate Mackinaw Power LLC with an aggregate supply of 1,887 MW. ArcLight’s total portfolio in Georgia now exceeds 2,500 MW.

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