Enbridge Gas plans in the spring to start building a new 36-inch, steel pipeline for natural gas between stations in Dawn-Euphemia and Corunna.
The company recently received Ontario Energy Board (OEB) approval for the project, final in a series of natural gas projects valued at more than $500 million.
“Our customers count on us to meet their energy needs safely and reliably and upgrading our pipeline infrastructure is just one way we are able to do that,” said storage and transmission operations director Wes Armstrong in a news release.
Enbridge is also decommissioning seven of the 11 natural gas compressors at its Corunna compressor station in St. Clair Township as part of the $251-million project.
The compressors, installed between 1969 and 1974, need to be retired and abandoned, the company said in its EPO submission, “due to unacceptable reliability, obsolescence and safety concerns.”
The compressors are not being replaced, spokesperson Steve Presant said in an email.
Rather, the approximately 20-kilometre pipeline, expected to be in service Nov. 1, 2023, will make up for the decrease in pressure, he said.
“If no action is taken, there is a risk of one or more of the compressors failing due to age, which can cause disruption to natural gas services to our customers and can affect the reliability and integrity of the natural gas system,” he said , adding it’s normal for compressors like these to be decommissioned after about 50 years.
The project also includes station work at the Dawn operations center and the Corunna compressor station to tie them into the new pipeline, he said.
The project cost is up from a $220-million estimate in mid-2021.
Costs changed as the project was further refined before the EPO application in March 2022, Presant said.
Other projects in the series include replacing 82 kilometers of natural gas pipelines between the Dawn facility and just outside of London Middlesex Centre, moving pipes below ground at the Corunna compressor station, adding storage capacity in St. Clair Township, increasing operating pressures at other underground storage pools, and building 1.2 kilometers of 20-inch natural gas pipeline south of LaSalle Line.
Each is now in service, although final decommissioning of the old pipeline and cleanup activities for the London Lines project is scheduled to occur in 2023, Presant said.
Information about whether the costs for those projects had changed was not available.
