Northwest Natural said today that it has started building the 2.5 Bcf (71mn m³) North Mist natural gas storage expansion project in Oregon.
NW Natural is expanding the northern section of its existing 16 Bcf underground storage facility at Mist at a cost of $128mn to enable electric generators to quickly adjust output when renewable energy such as wind and solar falls short.
The expansion project is designed to provide long-term, no-notice underground gas storage service to gas-fired power plants in an effort to integrate increased renewable generation in the region, while also enhancing grid reliability, the company said.
"The reliability and flexibility of supporting resources like natural gas are vital to Oregon as we seek to move toward 50pc renewable electricity by 2040," the company said.
The Oregon legislature last year expanded the state's renewable portfolio standard to 50pc by 2040.
Utilities there are working to reduce coal-fired generation from the state's electric supply mix and increase use of solar, wind and other renewable generation.
The project includes a new reservoir, an additional compressor station with design capacity of 120mn cf/d and a 13-mile (21 km) pipeline to connect to Portland General Electric's (PGE) gas plants near Clatskanie, Oregon.
The company began building the main well pad and drilling wells during the fourth quarter of 2016 and early 2017.
Natural gas injections and testing of the facility is planned in 2018 to meet the targeted in-service date of winter 2018-2019.
The expansion project will be rate-based under an established tariff after it is placed into service.
