Like last winter, Sabal Trail can’t keep the gas flowing during the dead of winter, the only time Florida might need heating.
This data is from Sabal Trail’s Informational Postings, which are required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
As you can see by the numbers on Sabal Trail’s current map, even at the other stations it is shipping less than half (393) of its currently stated capacity (813). At Reunion, even the capacity is lower (711), and the amount shipped (Nom) is a sixth of that.
In Summer 2018 you might have gotten the impression Sabal Trail had finally got the hang of shipping gas.
But in October, Reunion started to diverge, and on November 15, 2018, Reunion crashed to zero for a week, apparently dragging everything else down quite a bit at the same time.
Reunion burst up at the end of December, but couldn’t keep it up.
The next station upstream from Reunion is Dunnellon, where the Citrus County Pipeline branches off. That goes to Duke Energy Florida (DEF)’s new gas power plant in Crystal River. Is that were all this gas is going?
Sabal Trail currently lists three customers:
- DEF for 300,000 Maximum Daily Dekatherms (Dth)
- Florida Power & Light (FPL) for 400,000, and
- Tampa Electric Company (TECO) for 20,000.
- Total: 720,000
It doesn’t look like the difference between Dunnellon and Reunion ever has reached 400 thousand Dth. So is that DEF plant not using all that gas? Or is some of it going somewhere else?
For that matter, the current 393 thousand Dkh upstream of Reunion is nowhere near the 720 Sabal Trail claims its customers want.
And FPL’s connection is supposed to be at Sabal Trail’s vaunted Central Florida Hub south of Orlando, which is basically the Reunion Compressor Station and its interconnects with Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) and Gulfstream, as well as FPL’s Florida Southeast Connection (FSC) onwards to FPL’s power plants at Lake Okeechobee and on the Atlantic coast. Apparently FPL doesn’t need the gas.
What is this Critical Notice about?
TSP: 930373670 TSP Name: Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC Critical Notice Description: Critical notice Notice Effective Date: 01/02/2019 Notice Effective Time: 12:09:54 PM Notice End Date: 02/01/2019 Notice End Time: 09:00:00 AM Notice Identifier: 80365 Notice Status Description: Initiate Notice Type: Capacity Constraint Posting Date: 01/02/2019 Posting Time: 12:09:54 PM Prior Notice Identifier: Required Response ; Indicator Description: No response required Response Date: Response Time: Subject: STT Operations Advisory Notice Text:
Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC's ("STT") line pack is currently at the high end of STT's range of acceptable operating levels.STT hereby notifies its shippers that at the current line pack level STT cannot absorb a significant quantity of under deliveries of gas. Accordingly, STT strongly encourages shippers to closely coordinate with their suppliers to ensure scheduled services match actual service requirements.
STT reserves the right to take any additional actions that are necessary to protect the integrity of its system. These actions may include issuance of Action Alerts and/or Operational Flow Orders.
Shippers are requested to advise their operational personnel to monitor the LINK System for any further notices.
If you have any questions, please contact your Operations Account Representative.
What if you’re a member of the at-risk public, or a customer of FPL? Who do you ask about this stuff?
Thanks to eagle-eye Janet Barrow for spotting these anomalies.
Oh, and still nothing from FERC or PHMSA about that September 29, 2018 Sabal Trail leak at its Hildreth Compressor Station in Suwannee County, Florida. That leak doesn’t seem to have affected Sabal Trail’s reported gas deliveries. So what is this Critical Notice, and why can’t Sabal Trail keep the gas flowing? Is there some bigger, unreported, leak or other problem?
Or is there just no need for this hazardous stranded-asset pipeline boondoggle?
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
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