Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Thursday obtained the federal bankruptcy court’s approval to spend $39.5 million to upgrade a 425-mile portion of its California natural gas transmission pipeline known as the “Redwood Path,” running from Malin, OR, at the California border to a point in San Benito County south of San Jose, CA. The proposed expansion will add about 200 MMcf/d capacity that the utility said has been operating at about 95% capacity since 1998.

The prospect of plentiful and competitively priced western Canadian supplies is the main impetus for the expansion, which was not contemplated in a recent state report on California’s natural gas transmission and storage infrastructure.

The PG&E utility said that “meeting California’s growing demand for natural gas is paramount to the state’s economic vitality,” noting that construction is expected to be completed in September 2002. The utility said that the added capacity could supply an additional 1,200 MW of electricity generation or 1.2 million homes.

The Redwood Path is part of PG&E’s Line 401 that connects with its interstate pipeline coming from the U.S.-Canadian border. The PG&E National Energy Group’s interstate system in the Pacific Northwest has gone through several recent upgrades and expansions. Within California, however, most of the focus on natural gas infrastructure upgrades has concentrated on the southern half of the state where Southern California Gas Co. is in the process of adding 375 MMcf/d to its transmission pipeline system.

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