Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas selected Dominion to build and operate the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 550-mile interstate natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia and into eastern North Carolina to meet the region’s rapidly growing demand for natural gas. The pipeline has an estimated cost of between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, an initial capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, and a target in-service date of late 2018.The project will require FERC approval, which Dominion will seek to secure by summer 2016. The pipeline’s main customers are six utilities and related companies that collectively will purchase a substantial majority of the pipeline’s capacity to transport natural gas – Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress, Virginia Power Services Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, Virginia Natural Gas, and PSNC Energy. The purchases will be made through 20-year contracts, subject to state regulatory approval. Dominion will build and operate the pipeline through a services agreement with its Dominion Transmission subsidiary, which will oversee siting, permitting, engineering and legal issues.
