Con Edison limits natural gas service due to pipeline constraints into New York City area

[thackney]

Con Edison limits natural gas service due to pipeline constraints into New York City area
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39572
MAY 22, 2019



n January 2019, Consolidated Edison, Inc., (Con Edison)—the largest utility provider in the New York City area, serving 10 million customers—announced a moratorium on new natural gas connections in most of Westchester County, effective March 16. Demand for natural gas in the New York City area has increased in recent years, leading to concerns about reliability of service. Con Edison claimed it cannot guarantee uninterrupted service to new natural gas connections. Between the announcement of the moratorium and its start on March 16, Con Edison received 1,600 applications for firm natural gas service in the moratorium area. Customers on firm natural gas service contracts have delivery priority above those on interruptible contracts.

Despite an increase in natural gas production in the Northeast, regional demand for natural gas—driven both by population growth and switching from heating oil—has grown even faster, causing concern about the ability to provide service to new customers. During recent winters, natural gas utilities in the Northeast have been using most, if not all, available pipeline capacity to transport natural gas to demand centers.

Con Edison is also actively pursuing strategies to further alleviate interstate natural gas pipeline constraints, such as using electricity for heating and cooking, providing energy efficiency rebates, and creating demand response programs.

Over the last two months, Con Edison announced two agreements with existing pipeline companies to add capacity by upgrading compression facilities. Instead of constructing new pipelines, these projects would provide incremental capacity increases to alleviate constraints. In April 2019, Con Edison reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline to bring additional capacity into Westchester County.

In May 2019, Con Edison announced a second agreement, with Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P., to provide incremental natural gas capacity to the Bronx and parts of Manhattan and Queens through the Iroquois pipeline. According to Con Edison, both projects could enter service by November 2023.

Natural gas moratoriums are infrequent, but utility companies in Massachusetts recently issued similar moratoriums even though the state is close to natural gas production from the Appalachian Basin. Although smaller in scale and in areas with less commercial demand, three Massachusetts utility companies issued moratoriums on new natural gas hookups this past winter because of supply constraints.

[thackney]

...THE FACT THAT THE ENERGY SHORTAGE IS PERMANENT. THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN SOLVE IT QUICKLY. BUT IF WE ALL COOPERATE AND MAKE MODEST SACRIFICES, IF WE LEARN TO LIVE THRIFTILY AND REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF HELPING OUR MAKES WE CAN FIND WAYS TO ADJUST AND TO MAKE OUR SOCIETY MORE EFFICIENT AND OUR OWN LIVES MORE ENJOYABLE AND PRODUCTIVE. ...

https://www.c-span.org/video/?153913-1/president-carters-fireside-chat-energy

[Free Vulcan]

New Yorkers should rejoice in this. They want things to be like a socialist turd world country. They are well on their way!

[Fishrrman]

Indeed, Vulcan.

A little bit of Venezuela -- in New York !

[Smokin Joe]

Over the last two months, Con Edison announced two agreements with existing pipeline companies to add capacity by upgrading compression facilities. Instead of constructing new pipelines, these projects would provide incremental capacity increases to alleviate constraints. In April 2019, Con Edison reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline to bring additional capacity into Westchester County.

In May 2019, Con Edison announced a second agreement, with Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P., to provide incremental natural gas capacity to the Bronx and parts of Manhattan and Queens through the Iroquois pipeline. According to Con Edison, both projects could enter service by November 2023.

So are they going to add capacity by increasing the pressure in the line? Higher pressures in older lines? I suspect there is generally a substantial margin for overpressure, but is that safe?

[thackney]

So are they going to add capacity by increasing the pressure in the line? Higher pressures in older lines? I suspect there is generally a substantial margin for overpressure, but is that safe?

It is not added pressure, but more flow rate.  Higher flow rates results in greater pressure drop per mile, which requires more compressor stations.

I've was part of these additions for a couple decades.  It is a normal way to upgrade a smaller portion of the total.  It tends to be less costly install but also less efficient to operate.

https://www.tlv.com/global/US/calculator/gas-pressure-loss-through-piping.html

[Smokin Joe]

It is not added pressure, but more flow rate.  Higher flow rates results in greater pressure drop per mile, which requires more compressor stations.

I've was part of these additions for a couple decades.  It is a normal way to upgrade a smaller portion of the total.  It tends to be less costly install but also less efficient to operate.

https://www.tlv.com/global/US/calculator/gas-pressure-loss-through-piping.html

Thanks for clearing that up for me!

[Joe Wooten]

It is not added pressure, but more flow rate.  Higher flow rates results in greater pressure drop per mile, which requires more compressor stations.

I've was part of these additions for a couple decades.  It is a normal way to upgrade a smaller portion of the total.  It tends to be less costly install but also less efficient to operate.

https://www.tlv.com/global/US/calculator/gas-pressure-loss-through-piping.html

There's a limit to how much flow a pipe can take. When it chokes, then you either have to live with it, or increase pressure to increase the gas density and allow more flow. As you increase pressure, you decrease your margins of safety.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

In the minds of the libs, better to stop producing electricity rather than generating it with nuclear, coal, fuel oil or natural gas.

New Yorkers select their leaders, let them suffer the consequences.

[Hoodat]

Once did a plant visit to a Con-Ed facility in Queens.  The bagels were amazing!

[Smokin Joe]

In the minds of the libs, better to stop producing electricity rather than generating it with nuclear, coal, fuel oil or natural gas.

New Yorkers select their leaders, let them suffer the consequences.

Not that I am one to stand up for New Yorkers, as a rule, but lest we forget, the folks out in the hills suffer from the stupidity of those in town, more often than not. The citiots are likely the ones who control what happens in the rest of the state.

[Joe Wooten]

In the minds of the libs, better to stop producing electricity rather than generating it with nuclear, coal, fuel oil or natural gas.

New Yorkers select their leaders, let them suffer the consequences.

Agreed! They voted for the morons running the place now, let them suffer the consequences without getting bailed out by their neighbors.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Not that I am one to stand up for New Yorkers, as a rule, but lest we forget, the folks out in the hills suffer from the stupidity of those in town, more often than not. The citiots are likely the ones who control what happens in the rest of the state.

That has existed for now 200 years.

Past time for the upstaters to throw off the Southern idiots.