National Grid to use trucked LNG, CNG during peak winter gas demand

摘要

Facing a potential shortfall in natural gas supplies due to certain factors, including regulatory holdups of a key interstate pipeline project, gas utility National Grid is planning to use trucked shipments to ensure supplies to customers in New York and New England during the coldest parts of winter. The Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board on November 6 approved the utility company's request for a temporary waiver from the licensing requirement of the Energy Facility Siting Act to operate a temporary LNG vaporization facility on a site in Portsmouth, which National Grid had previously used for that purpose. Plans call for National Grid to truck in LNG to the site, where it will be vaporized and injected into the local gas distribution system to provide an emergency backup gas supply to Aquidneck Island. The project will only be on the site from December 1 through March 31 and will only be mobilized when it is required to back up the gas supply to the island, the utility said in its waiver request.