Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
Southern Company Gas owns and operates four LNG peak-shaving facilities, which supply gas at peak use times.
The largest, the Riverdale LNG plant in Riverdale, Georgia, has storage capacity of 31,080,000 gallons or 2,560,000 million cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas in its two tanks. Located south of Atlanta, the plant is supplied by two interstate pipelines for supply. It is connected to the Atlanta Gas Light beltline pipeline system for distribution of gas to the Atlanta market. The plant is able to deliver 400,000 Mcf/day of gas during peak send-out.
The Cherokee LNG plant, located north of Atlanta in Ball Ground, Georgia, has storage capacity of 25,242,957 gallons or 2,020,237 Mcf equivalent of natural gas in a single tank. The 934 acre site was designed to accommodate a second tank of equal capacity if warranted. This plant receives supply from three pipelines and can deliver an equivalent of 400,000 Mcf/day of peak send-out to AGL's Atlanta market.
Southern Company Gas also owns and operates an LNG plant in Macon, Georgia. This plant's single tank storage capacity is 18,900,000 gallons or the equivalent of 1,501,983 Mcf. Although the plant is capable of delivering up to 150,000 Mcf/day, the pipeline system exiting the plant can accommodate a delivery of less than half that volume, of only 70,000 Mcf/day.
In Tennessee, Chattanooga Gas, another Southern Company Gas subsidiary, receives peak day supplies from the company's Chattanooga plant, which holds the equivalent of 1,186,035 Mcf. This facility is supplied by two pipelines and can deliver up to 90,000 Mcf/day to the Chattanooga Gas market.
Southern Company Gas, through Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), also owns some storage capacity — 752,174 Mcf equivalent — in the Columbia Natural Gas Company-operated Chesapeake LNG facility. This plant is located at the end of the Columbia pipeline that supplies VNG's south system. To more fully utilize this contracted capacity, VNG constructed an LNG vaporization plant adjacent to its propane plant in 2002. This system is capable of adding up to 14,400 Mcf/day into the VNG system by trucking LNG from the Chesapeake plant to the vaporization plant.
