Duke Energy works with Accenture and Microsoft on a tech platform
D
uke Energy is working with Accenture and Microsoft on the development of a new technology platform designed to measure actual baseline methane emissions from natural gas distribution systems.
The cloud-hosted platform will track and prioritize data associated with emissions using advanced detection methods such as satellites, fixed-wing aircraft and ground-level sensing technology.
“Satellite detection has the potential to be a more expedient and efficient way to locate emissions when compared to traditional leak survey methods, which is exciting,” Brian Weisker, senior vice president and chief operations officer, natural gas at Duke Energy, told American Gas. “This partnership and platform eventually will allow us to move away from our manual and time-consuming methane leak-management process and toward real-time data to unlock a more effective and timely remediation strategy, as well as allow us to measure methane emissions across our system.”
The current industry standard uses calculated data to report methane emissions. “This is a great example of innovation and collaboration coming together to enable industries to more accurately detect, calculate and report on emissions and take action,” Darryl Willis, Microsoft corporate vice president of energy and sustainability, said in a Duke Energy news release.
Mark Schuler, a managing director in Accenture’s utilities practice, said the collaboration demonstrates how technology, innovation and artificial intelligence can help address sustainability challenges. “Together, we can show others how to achieve their sustainability goals and make it an integral part of delivering value for all stakeholders, and not as one-off practices,” he said.
Weisker told American Gas that one of the main goals of the new program is to continue the utility’s path toward net zero methane emissions by 2030.
“This platform will help us and other natural gas distribution companies reimagine how to find and fix leaks and how to quantify methane emissions,” he said. “All this work will improve the expediency in which leaks may be repaired, resulting in dramatically lower methane emissions.”