Houston (Platts)--19Dec2012/351 pm EST/2051 GMT

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line on Wednesday launched a binding open season for a New Jersey lateral that would directly serve a new natural gas-fired power plant.

The Woodbridge Delivery Lateral has a planned capacity of 264,000 Dt/day and a proposed in-service date of April 1, 2015. The lateral will move gas from a point on Transco's mainline in Middlesex County, New Jersey, eastward to the proposed Woodbridge Energy Center in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

The lateral will be located within Transco's zone 6-non New York pricing area. The open season will run through January 11, the company said.

The Woodbridge plant is a proposed 700-MW combined-cycle facility. Plant developer Competitive Power Ventures expects it to be online in 2015.

The lateral is one of several that have been either proposed or recently put into service that would serve growing demand from gas-fired power generation on the Eastern Seaboard.

Although the pipelines have thus far been largely targeting proposed gas-fired plants in the Southeast, several Northeast projects have been announced of late.

Spectra Energy's Philadelphia Lateral, running off its Texas Eastern Transmission pipe, went into service in November. It serves a cogeneration power plant in the city.

In 2015, Transco's parent Williams plans to bring online its Virginia Southside Expansion project, a 250,000 Mcf/d pipe that would serve Dominion Virgina Power's proposed 1,300-MW plant in Brunswick County, Virginia.

--Samantha Santa Maria, samantha_santa_maria@platts.com --Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com