A potential game changer for gas delivery in the UK

Challenge  

Methane emissions are an issue that operators of gas distribution networks in the UK work hard to mitigate. However, the modelling methodologies used for leak detection and monitoring are based on emissions coefficients derived more than 20 years ago.  

These older methodologies impede networks’ ability to locate leaks to the level of accuracy needed to drive emissions reduction through targeted asset management programmes. The lack of accurate, real-time leakage information, in turn, has limited gas distribution networks’ ability to make data-driven decisions and more effectively reduce their business carbon footprint.  

Innovation has become pivotal for better emissions tracking and for providing a new approach to leakage detection. Cadent, the UK’s largest gas network, set out to address these issues through a combination of modelling techniques, machine learning, and innovative technology, tapping into a special fund created by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), the country’s energy regulator.  

The Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), as Ofgem’s initiative is called, requires participants to advance through three development phases:  

• Discovery, which entails feasibility studies and value evaluations 
• Alpha, which calls for small-scale proof-of-concept testing 
• Beta, which involves large-scale demonstrations of the project in real-world environments. 

Cadent needed additional technical and organisational expertise to usher its new project, the Digital Platform for Leakage Analytics (DPLA), past the first two stages and—most critically—through Beta. The platform would require advanced modelling capabilities, agile software development experiences, and data management expertise, as well as new workstreams and assessment frameworks. To meet those challenges, Cadent engaged Guidehouse right from the ideation stage as the DPLA’s technology delivery partner. 

Approach 

After helping Cadent graduate through the Discovery and Alpha phases, we teamed with the company to develop and manage a series of distinct workstreams, ranging in focus from project management and stakeholder engagement to platform and analytics design. Those workstreams consist of a set of actions and initiatives aimed at advancing the DPLA through the Beta development phase, including: 

• A full assessment of where data is being collected across the entirety of Cadent’s network, establishing common definitions, linkages, and extraction processes for each source. 
• The completion of a production-ready code base which allows a probabilistic model to be built for any network segment. 
• Monitoring progress, managing risks, and ensuring regular communication among organisations.
• Conducting technology trials and hard assessments, yielding final findings on the technologies tested (ultrasonic imaging cameras, vehicle-mounted leak detection technology, fixed sensors, satellite captures) that have the potential to feed data into the DPLA.
• Building data infrastructure to ensure that data is production-ready and available and consumable for end-to-end testing.
• Assessing impacts of the DPLA on business functions, job roles, and workforce skills and identifying training needs for future DPLA users.
• The dissemination of learnings and updates to the wider gas industry and other relevant stakeholders through social media, podcasts, interviews, and videos.
• Collaboration with another SIF innovation project, Intelligent Gas Grid, aimed at investigating areas of synergy between the two projects to identify joint benefits.
• Continuous engagement of the other UK gas networks, which are partners to the project, so that the solution can be adapted to their networks using their own data and preferred technology vendors. 

The overarching goal of these efforts has been to develop a transformational blueprint for how data, analytics, and models can be used to locate leaks before they become an issue, paving the way for best-in-class approaches to regulatory and operational emissions reduction across the UK’s gas distribution networks. 



Impact  

By engaging Guidehouse, Cadent has been able to maintain a rigorous continuity of expertise through all three development phases. The agile software development and data management experience we brought to the project complemented Cadent’s asset and regulatory knowledge, which will help develop a minimum viable product that puts Cadent in a strong position to transition from innovation to implementation.  

Doing so will have potentially huge benefits for the UK’s gas networks: 

• Fully implemented, the DPLA will significantly reduce methane leakage and allow network operators to make more efficient operational and investment decisions.  
• By leveraging advanced modelling and sensor technologies, the DPLA can accurately detect and localise gas leaks early, allowing for swift and targeted responses. This can empower gas networks to prevent leakage that currently accounts for more than 95 percent of the industry’s carbon footprint, providing critical support to government efforts to meet the Global Methane Pledge issued at COP 26 (the 26th annual Conference of Parties, held in Scotland in 2021).  
• The early identification of leaks will ensure that issues are addressed before they escalate, protecting lives and property and reducing costs for residents and businesses across the UK.