Natural Gas Infrastructure Storm Resistant but Far from Perfect

According to a recent research report, natural gas infrastructure is resilient to storm damage because it’s largely underground.  However, the report recommends improvements in terms of communication and data analysis for more proactive monitoring of the system.

Using Information to Harden Natural Gas Infrastructure

The report, written by consulting firm ICF, recommends that gas utilities work toward the development of smart grids, just like many electric utilities are doing.  It also recommends additional avenues to collect data, including drones and enhanced supervisory control systems.  These types of technologies can enable gas companies to collect data at a more granular level, and analyze it in a way that generates maximum insight.

Here are some specific benefits of enhanced information and data analysis in the context of natural gas infrastructure hardening:

• It would enable better coordination across crews and external emergency responders during restoration events, thereby improving the efficiency of such efforts.
• It would enable greater visibility into household gas consumption patterns, which would improve gas companies’ emergency preparedness efforts by helping to prioritize area-by-area emergency restoration tactics.
• It would enable proactive monitoring for gas leaks.
• It would help detect cyber or system hacking threats.

Aside from information and data analysis, the report suggests that natural gas infrastructure can become more resilient by installing additional isolation valves to proactively shutdown service when an emergency event requires the isolation of specific areas of the grid.  Another recommendation is to install sensors along the pipeline to monitor for debris, damage and leaks.

The bottom line is that, although natural gas infrastructure is extremely resistant to major storm damage, there is always room for improvement.  And from an emergency preparedness standpoint, these are definitely words to live by.