Operation

Aux Sable Liquid Products Inc. said its new natural gas liquids(NGL) extraction and fractionation facilities in Channahon, IL, wentinto operation last Friday in conjunction with the start-up of serviceon the Alliance Pipeline system (see Daily GPI, Dec. 1, 2000).

Vector Pipeline began operations Friday, completing pipelineconstruction and the start of transportation service on a newnatural gas pipeline system. The 285-mile 42-inch pipeline connectsto 59 miles of existing 36-inch pipe leased line in Michigan, andcrosses 1,900 tracts of land in the United States and Canada.

Ending concerns that related pipelines might not start serviceon the same day, both the Alliance and Vector pipelines opened forbusiness on Friday.

Constellation Energy Source, a subsidiary of ConstellationEnergy Group, signed an agreement to provide energy managementservices including construction, ownership and operation of acentral plant that will provide the Pittsburgh Steelers withheating, air conditioning and hot water for their new 65,000-seatstadium. Under the multi-year agreement, the company will beginconstruction on the plant immediately and expects to have theproject finished by the spring of 2001. The stadium is scheduledfor completion by August 2001.

Kansas City, MO’s Utilicorp United Inc. is shopping around, andhas already begun to narrow its options on which “high quality,low-cost fleet of generators” to pair with its wholesale merchantmoneymaker Aquila Energy, management announced last week. Apartnership deal is expected to be unveiled within a few months.

Reliant Energy’s Shelby County, IL, peaking power plant begancommercial operation last Friday. The 340 MW natural gas-firedfacility marks Reliant’s first power generation project to be builtin Illinois. The facility, which is located about 180 miles southof Chicago, began construction in late February. The plant willoperate on its five current turbines until they are ultimatelyreplaced by eight General Electric LM 6000 natural gas turbines.The plant is expected to operate a maximum of four months duringthe summer each year.

DukeSolutions is actively looking to sell the gas and electrictrading portion of its business, a spokesman confirmed last week,hastening to explain that this sale has nothing to do with DukeEnergy’s main North American trading operations under Duke EnergyMerchants.

DukeSolutions is actively looking to sell the gas and electrictrading portion of its business, a spokesman confirmed last week,hastening to explain that this sale has nothing to do with DukeEnergy’s main North American trading operations under Duke EnergyMerchants.

Conectiv Energy Supply, Inc. has purchased the assets of thePennsylvania office of Black Hills Energy Resources, a gasmarketing operation that was a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp. Thepurchase brings Conectiv an office located in Allentown, PA, thatserves more than 300 gas customers in the tri-state area. Thecustomers primarily are industrial and commercial consumers in theUGI, PECO, Penn Fuel, and Columbia of Pennsylvania service areas.