The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a favorable Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the 965-km highly controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) proposal. The US$5bn ACP is expected to include three compressor stations and will carry fracked natural gas from the West Virginia producing assets down to North Carolina and Virginia with a 15.5 bcm/year capacity. This approval is a milestone, but the project still needs other regulatory endorsements in order to start construction.
Four utilities including Dominion Energy and Duke Energy have set up a joint venture (JV) to build and own the ACP. Dominion Energy will own 48% of the JV, Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas own together 47% while Southern Energy owns 5%. If the project is approved, construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2017 and the commissioning in late 2019. Dominion Energy supports the project because it has projected a significant demand growth for natural gas in Virginia and North Carolina over the next two decades, partly driven by population growth, and also because both Duke Energy and Dominion Energy are retiring coal plants and replacing them with a new fleet of gas-fired plants. Both companies believe there is a future market for natural gas in the US.