Mountain Valley Pipeline - Spread E

Mountain Valley Pipeline – Spread E

Mobley, 1, WV, USA / 2018 - 2019

Trinity

Products Used:

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)

This project is a joint venture between EQT Corporation and NextEra Energy, Inc., consisting of 42″ natural gas pipeline completed in 2019. The pipeline route spans approximately 294 miles through 16 counties in West Virginia and Virginia. The Marcellus and Utica shale produce an enormous amount of natural gas and require a robust transmission system to efficiently distribute the natural gas to customers in need. This project underwent numerous regulatory and political hurdles due to the many environmentally sensitive areas it traverses.

With a capacity of 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) plays an essential role in providing natural gas to markets in the Mid and South Atlantic regions on the U.S.

To help preserve the natural environment as much as possible, the owning company decided early on that polyurethane foam would not be permitted for use anywhere on the pipeline. Polyurethane foam pillows are sometimes used as pipeline supports to protect the pipeline from rocky trench bottoms. Foam has been shown to restrict the pipelines cathodic protection systems and can potentially leach unwanted chemicals into the groundwater.

The incredibly steep terrain of the pipeline route made use of padding or sandbags, undesirable due to the logistical, economical and labor requirements. Instead, many of the contractors decided on a safer (and less expensive) method – PipePillo® structured pipeline supports.

The strategically engineered lightweight design of PipePillo® structured supports not only allowed for easy transportation and staging, but also facilitated smooth installation. Rather than multiple laborers filling, moving, and placing heavy sandbags, a single laborer could carry and place a PipePillo® support with ease. Even in the steepest areas, the overbends and underbends, only required a few PipePillo® supports in place of hundreds of sandbags saving contractors time, money, and effort.

Not only were PipePillo® structured pipeline supports used in-trench as permanent supports, but they were used by contractors to aid with setup, staging, and welding prior to being lowered in. PipePillo® supports are engineered to provide a full 90 degrees of support, reducing the risk of pipeline ovality over time even after construction, especially in rocky and uneven terrains, making PipePillo® pipeline supports the ideal solution for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project.