The Gas Department has wrapped up its most recent project with the commissioning of their two new tanks at the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plant.
In July of this year, two LNG cryogenic tanks found their new home at our LNG Plant. Travelling on railcars all the way from Minnesota to Greenville was an impressive feat due to their massive size. They are each 13 feet in diameter and 116 feet long, making them slightly larger than a blue whale. These tanks can hold up to 70,000 gallons of liquified natural gas.
Once they arrived in Greenville, they were loaded onto self-propelled vehicles for transport to the LNG Plant. Due to the incredible size of the tanks, GUC worked with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to adjust traffic patterns on two different days along Gum Road, NC Hwy 11 and 13, the intersection of Greenville Boulevard and US Hwy 264, and Old Pactolus Road.
It took one week for both tanks to make their way on different days to the LNG Plant and be placed on their new foundations. Since then, a lot of work has been done to prepare the tanks for their commissioning.
On the cold and rainy morning of December 2nd, Gas employees commissioned both tanks just in time for the winter heating months. Commissioning of the tanks involved testing the various plant processes, including vaporizing (turning the liquified gas from the new tanks back into vapor), and then odorizing (because LNG does not have an odor).
The LNG Plant expansion is designed to ensure customers receive natural gas service at the lowest reasonable cost. Adding these two tanks to GUC’s LNG storage will dramatically reduce the likelihood that GUC will be forced to purchase natural gas at an extremely high cost during times of high demand. This is the first phase of the LNG Plant expansion. Four more tanks are expected in phases two and three as the system needs grow.
