With the discovery of shale and increasing pressures on carbon reduction, the past decade has seen a rush to natural gas as the energy source of choice. This is particularly true in Europe and the United States, where natural gas distribution infrastructure is well established.
But gas utilities face a number of challenges also common to electric and water utilities: population growth and building new infrastructure to support it, an increase in regulatory expectations, increasing environmental pressures, limited capital and research funding, and rising consumer expectations.
Regulatory and public eyes, in particular, have been focused even more keenly on the asset and infrastructure management practices of natural gas distribution utilities even as significant capital expenditures, or CapEx, are being made in distribution pipeline and infrastructure repair and replacement.
In addition to the increasing CapEx investments to upgrade infrastructure, gas utilities are making operations expenditure, or OpEx, investments in new technology to increase reliability and maximize efficiencies through operations and asset maintenance, with a high priority on improving customer experience and satisfaction.
For an increasing number of natural gas utilities, smart gas meters are providing the starting point for network optimization. With the ability to deliver more granular, real-time data, smart meters are not only beneficial in customer billing, but also in detecting gas leakage and identifying safety issues, and even in implementing energy efficiency programs.
European gas distribution utilities, supported by government mandates, are investing in advanced metering infrastructure to provide more accurate billing, additional meter-to-cash operational efficiencies and increased tamper-detection capabilities.
For example, Gaz Reseau Distribution France, which serves 90% of France’s gas market, is midway through an 11 million residential smart gas meter rollout throughout its territory, set to be completed by 2023. The project’s major goals are threefold: 1) to automate gas consumption readings; 2) to increase the frequency of recorded consumption data from twice yearly (mandated) to daily; and 3) to modernize and optimize GRDF’s gas distribution network.
In addition to the 11 million meters, GRDF is also installing 12,000 data concentrators at high points, such as the tops of buildings, churches, radio masts, etc., throughout its region. Once daily, the smart meters send their data to these concentrators, which record it, clean it and send the data via a 3G telecom network to GRDF’s national IT system.
This new influx of consumption data has allowed GRDF to provide informational services to a variety of third parties:
End consumers can now log into the company’s website and monitor their own gas usage in kilowatt hours on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. As the national gas distributor, GRDF also provides this consumption data to the various gas providers it works with on a monthly basis for billing purposes.
Aggregated, anonymized data is provided upon request to local authorities and building managers with at least 10 delivery points at the same address.
Aggregated daily data for a neighborhood, city or region can be accessed on GRDF’s “Open Data” platform, which is useful for municipalities or local authorities that want to perform an energy analysis for their areas or to use the data for energy planning purposes.
In addition to the expected investment and operational gains GRDF will see from deploying new smart meters, the company anticipates an increase in energy savings of approximately 1.5% from consumers having access to their daily usage data and being better able to manage their usage. While 1.5% might not seem, on its face, to be a significant line item in a business case, it’s quite substantial when multiplied across 11 million residential homes across the country. In addition, it amounts to a sizable reduction of the company’s—and the nation’s—greenhouse gas emissions over time.
AMI combined with energy efficiency programs can also be useful in reducing strain on gas infrastructure. For example, in utility service regions where gas demand is growing but the willingness to approve new infrastructure is limited, gas utilities are struggling to find solutions to reduce demand and tame peaks that threaten to strain distribution capacity.
In the New York City region of the United States, utilities face requests to add new gas hookups without the ability to expand pipeline capacity. These gas system constraints are most acute on the coldest days of the year, when electric generating plants fueled by gas compete for resources with homes that draw on the gas system for heat and hot water.
The granular data available from smart meters plays a key role in supporting traditional energy savings measures such as Home Energy Reports, behavioral demand response programs, peak time rebates and more. These energy savings programs can reduce the strain on gas infrastructure, save customers money and reduce GHG emissions.
For example, enabled by a recent gas AMI deployment, one northeastern U.S. utility was able to measure time-granular gas savings from its existing HER program. The results: Not only did the HERs generate gas savings during the coldest days of January and February 2020, but they also generated 30% higher savings on those coldest days than on average days in those same months.
Another multistate gas utility took this approach even further in its strategy to help its customers—including its low- to moderate-income, or LMI customers—lower their GHG emissions and reduce their bills. Targeting millions of its customers with electronic HERs and other digital communications, the utility provided them with the ability to access and complete home energy assessments online and determine personalized ways to save energy. In one state within the utility’s territory, customers were also able to request an energy efficiency kit to make structural improvements to their home, an offer more than 4,000 customers took advantage of. Of particular note: The utility’s LMI customers accounted for 8% of online energy assessment completions, opening future engagement opportunities with a traditionally hard-to-serve group.
Numerous potential benefits of AMI for gas have not yet been fully explored. Remote sensing and big-data applications offer the potential for identifying emissions and certifying emissions intensity. Gas distribution companies can use smart meters to more accurately match up gas supply throughout the value chain.
Through network sensorization via the Internet of Things and real-time analysis of the data provided, gas utilities can enable a more complete view and increase their understanding of their network assets. Using technologies such as machine learning, gas utilities can continue their focus on more proactive, situation-based maintenance.
Increased situational awareness with a real-time pipe network model and integration into SCADA and IoT sensors enables trouble call and event management, planned maintenance notification and proactive customer notifications. Tying customer operations with gas network operations helps monitor unaccounted-for gas, leak detection and customer alerts.
At the same time, taking a customer-centric approach with smart gas usage programs—using a combination of education and active involvement through energy efficiency and behavioral demand side management—will also help to lower customer demand and address environmental concerns.
