Piedmont Natural Gas says it plans to build and operate a $250 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Robeson County, N.C.

The facility will help the utility meet natural gas during peak usage days, typically when extremely low temperatures create a higher-than-normal demand for natural gas.

The 1 billion-cubic-foot (Bcf) storage facility will cover approximately 50 acres of a 685-acre piece of Piedmont-owned property. Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2019 with an estimated completion date in the summer of 2021.

The facility will be the fourth LNG facility Piedmont owns and operates. Other facilities are located in Nashville, Tenn., Bentonville, N.C., and Huntersville, N.C.

The project is expected to create 10 to 12 permanent jobs to manage operations. Piedmont Natural Gas is a unit of Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy.