Natural gas pipeline, with LNG storage tank in Epping, proposed by Liberty Utilities
Liberty Utilities wants to put a natural-gas pipeline along Route 101 from Manchester to Stratham and connect existing pipelines alongside Interstate 93 and Interstate 95, and also create a large gas storage facility in Epping.
The $340 million proposal, which the company is calling Granite Bridge, was announced Monday.
Liberty Utilities said it wants to build a tank that would store natural gas in liquid form near Route 101’s Exit 6 on a roughly 15-acre former quarry “within a 140-acre property in Epping that (Liberty Utilities) would purchase,” the company said.
The company said the tank could hold 2 billion cubic feet of liquid natural gas, or LNG. It would be 150 to 170 feet high and approximately 200 feet in diameter.
A tank of that size would raise the total LNG storage capacity in New England by 10 percent, according to data from ISO-New England.
Increasing the amount of natural gas available in New England in winter, when the fuel is often used for home heating instead of running power plants, is one of ISO-NE’s key goals to stabilize the power grid. Natural gas is used to create about half of all the electricity in New England.
