Note:  Kinder says that NGPL expected to add 3000-4000 MW of new gas-fired generation to NGPL each year through 2004.
TXU, Kinder Morgan to Build Gas Pipes for FPL Power Plant 
TXU and Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) subsidiaries have been selected by FPL Energy LLC to fuel its gas-fired power plant near Forney, TX that is scheduled for commercial operation in mid-2003. Both TXU and Kinder Morgan subsidiaries will construct lines that connect to existing facilities. A KMI subsidiary also obtained a long-term contract with FPL to transport gas to a new facility. 
Kinder Morgan North Texas Pipeline LLC, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, will construct a 30-inch, 85-mile pipe from an interconnect in Lamar County, TX to FPL Energy's existing 1,000 MW plant in Paris, TX and its 1,789 MW plant in Forney now under construction. The new pipeline will cost about $70 million and will have a capacity of 325,000 MMBtu/d. 
The company plans to finalize the new pipeline's route to minimize environmental and public impact and "wherever possible" to follow existing linear facilities such as power lines, highways and railroads. Construction is set to begin next summer. 
Richard Kinder, CEO of KMI, said that when the pipe is completed in the spring of 2003, it will be immediately accretive to KMI's earnings and cash flow, and called it "another example of our strategy of investing in pipeline infrastructure to enter new markets" where natural gas use is growing. 
TXU Lone Star Pipeline, a subsidiary of TXU, will construct a two-mile-long, 24-inch pipeline from its existing gas transmission system in eastern Dallas County to the Forney plant. TXU will replace a smaller, existing pipe in an existing pipeline right-of-way. Construction will begin next spring. No financial details on the TXU pipe were disclosed. 
Along with gaining the pipe contract, KMI subsidiary Natural Gas Pipeline Co.(NGPL) signed a firm transportation contract to provide FPL with natural gas to power its 1,789 MW facility in Forney. Under the long-term agreement, FPL Energy has subscribed for 250,000 MMBtu/d of firm capacity on the NGPL system, effective with the startup of operations at the new plant. FPL also agreed to extend an existing contract for 50,000 MMBtu/d of firm transportation service for another 18 years. 
"We expect to add 3,000-4,000 new megawatts of gas-fired electric generation to NGPL each year through 2004," said CEO Kinder. 
FPL owns and operates power plants with more than 4,400 total net MW in 12 states around the country. New projects will add nearly 6,000 MW of capacity to its portfolio by the end of 2003.