US midstream operator Williams foresees a need to further expand its Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line in the Southeast due to an expected rise in regional gas-fired power demand from new data centers, president and CEO Alan Armstrong said March 20.
Not registered?
Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience.
Register NowWilliams is already pursuing an expansion of Transco by way of its Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, which has a November 2027 in-service target, but its capacity is subscribed.
"I think as the data center load in those, in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast, as that starts to firm itself up in terms of gas load in those markets, we'll probably see another expansion," Armstrong said during a press conference on the sidelines of CERAWeek by S&P Global.
Southeast Supply Enhancement
Power demand growth associated with the expansion of data centers, including those supporting the proliferation of artificial intelligence, has emerged as a key theme at the annual energy conference in Houston. Natural gas industry players are projecting a special confidence that gas is the fuel best positioned to serve the baseload electricity needs of expanding data facilities.
Williams on Feb. 1 asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to begin the pre-filing review process for its Southeast expansion in preparation for applying for authorization under the Natural Gas Act later this year (PF24-2).
The request, which FERC approved Feb. 14, pegged the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project's capacity at about 1.6 Bcf/d.
"That project was originated before the data center loads started to really show themselves in these markets," Armstrong said March 20.
As recently as Feb. 14, the company had entertained increasing the capacity of the Transco expansion to 1.9 Bcf/d, and downstream customers want additional capacity, but the project is being advanced at 1.67 Bcf/d, Armstrong said.
"We're pushing ahead with that because in the permitting process, you have to kind of draw a line in the sand," Armstrong said. "There's still a lot of people wanting to come back and get more capacity in that project, but you have to draw a line in the sand, move ahead with the project and permit it."
One of the pipeline's largest customers, Duke Energy Carolinas, "really needed it on time and, so, we couldn't continue to hold off on moving ahead with finalizing the filings" for the project, Armstrong said.