The project, called Access Northeast, will help deliver increased, guaranteed daily supplies of natural gas to consumers while addressing reliability concerns of New England and reduce costs paid by the region’s electric and gas consumers.
In additon to boosting the Spectra Energy’s Algonquin and Maritimes pipeline systems, the project can deliver in excess of 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to serve the region’s most efficient power plants.
Expected to commence operations in November 2018, Access Northeast will be equally owned by Spectra Energy and NU.
Spectra Energy chairman, chief executive officer and president Greg Ebel said: "This is another step in our commitment to improving power system reliability, reducing electric costs to make the region more economically competitive, and protecting New England’s quality of life by minimizing environmental and community impacts."
Spectra Energy and Northeast Utilities’ collaborative proposal comprise scalable expansion of existing pipeline infrastructure, which is attached to approximately 60% of ISO-NE’s natural gas generation capacity as well as an environmentally-responsible approach that will minimize impact by using existing asset footprints.
The team will also partner with interconnecting pipeline and regional storage facilities to improve grid reliability at peak demand times.
The proposal includes additional Algonquin and Maritimes delivery points for local distribution companies (LDCs) to access diverse, low-cost natural gas resources whenever needed.
