LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced the utility had
achieved a new milestone with its innovative natural gas capture
system, conserving a total of more than 2.5 million cubic feet of
natural gas – the equivalent to what more than 12,500 homes use
each day on average in the U.S. – since first deploying the
technique in August 2016. When crews
perform work on a pipeline, some natural gas inside the pipe must
be released for safety. Instead of being released into the
atmosphere, the natural gas is captured, compressed, and reinjected
back into the utility's pipeline system for use by SoCalGas
customers. The innovative process reduces emissions and eliminates
noise and odor that typically occur in the traditional venting
process during pipeline replacement or inspection work. The methane
capture technique was one of the best practices included in the
utility's Leak Abatement Compliance Plan approved on October 12 by the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC). Photos from one of the natural gas capture
projects are available here.
"For more than 25 years, SoCalGas has been working hard to
reduce emissions from its operations, and because of many
practices, like the gas capture system, we have one of the lowest
methane emission rates of any natural gas distribution company in
the country," said David Buczkowski,
vice president of gas engineering and system integrity for
SoCalGas. "We are pleased that the CPUC responded positively to the
compliance plan and best practices we submitted earlier this year,
and believe the approved plan will assist our efforts to further
reduce emissions."
The methane capture technique was first trialed through
SoCalGas' Pipeline Safety Enhancement Plan (PSEP), a
multi-year program that identifies various high pressure pipeline
sections throughout SoCalGas' system and schedules them to be
pressure-tested or replaced.
SoCalGas is a leader in reducing emissions from its system,
delivering more than 99.5 percent of the natural gas brought into
its pipelines. The utility deploys a suite of advanced technologies
to detect and mitigate potential leaks and damage to pipelines,
including:
- Real-time monitoring of transmission pipelines from
state-of-the-art Gas Control Center;
- Fiber optic cables that detect methane leaks and third-party
damage to pipelines in real-time;
- Infrared cameras to check for leaks in newly-installed
pipelines;
- Aerial leak surveys from both aircraft and drones;
- Infrared "point" sensors that can detect leaks even before
smell is detected;
- In-line inspections tools, or "smart pigs";
- External corrosion surveying; and
- Algorithms that use Advanced Meter system to identify unusual
levels of natural gas consumption.
In 1993, SoCalGas was one of the first local gas distribution
companies to join Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Natural
Gas STAR Program, an effort by the EPA to promote the development
and adoption of technologies and best practices to reduce methane
emissions. Since joining STAR, SoCalGas has voluntarily implemented
dozens of cost-effective, methane reduction projects that have
resulted in the reduction of more than 800,000 metric tons of
carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
Addressing California's
Emissions with Renewable Natural Gas
Nationwide, emissions from natural gas pipeline systems, like
SoCalGas', represent less than 1 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions. Most of California's
methane emissions—about 80 percent—come from the agriculture and
waste industries. Because of this, SoCalGas has been working to
rapidly expand the production and use of renewable natural gas
(RNG) in California.
Earlier this year, SoCalGas announced that RNG derived from
organic waste from sources like dairies, wastewater treatment
plants, and landfills was being introduced into the utility's
pipeline system. RNG is a carbon-negative fuel produced from waste
found at landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and agriculture
and dairy farms that can be used in trucks and buses, to generate
electricity, fuel heating systems in home and businesses, and for
cooking.
New research shows that RNG can play an important role in
lowering carbon emissions in buildings. The analysis forecasts that
replacing roughly 16 percent of the traditional natural gas supply
with RNG can achieve greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to
converting 100 percent of buildings to electric-only energy by
2030. By using a mix of both in and out of state resources, RNG
strategy is three times more cost effective in reducing greenhouse
gas emissions than an electrification pathway.
SoCalGas recently joined a new international collaboration with
Canadian natural gas utility Énergir and French utilities GRDF and
GRTgaz aimed at advancing the research and development of renewable
natural gas and renewable energy storage technologies, such as
power-to-gas.
To help educate the public on renewable natural gas and assist
developers who may be interested in interconnecting to the SoCalGas
pipeline network, the utility developed a downloadable toolkit.
Watch this video to learn more about the environmental and
cost-saving benefits of renewable natural gas: Digesting the
Facts About Renewable Natural Gas.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los
Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural
gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable,
reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to
21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying
clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company's
pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to
Californians—about 60 percent of electric power
generated in the state comes from gas-fired power
plants.
SoCalGas is committed to investing in its natural gas system
infrastructure, while keeping bills affordable for our customers.
From 2013 through 2017, the company spent nearly $6
billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to
enhance safety and reliability. The company is also committed to
being a leader in the region's clean energy future, and is working
to accelerate the use of renewable natural gas from dairy
farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants and the
development of renewable energy storage technologies. SoCalGas is a
subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy
services holding company based in San Diego. For more
information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with
SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company