Impact of GIS integration on CGD infrastructure

Introduction

The energy and utility sector is one of the most rapidly expanding sectors of any country.

Added to this, utility management is perhaps one of the most basic needs of today’s infrastructure management. Most governments and companies are always looking at how investment can be made on different utility supply lines, such as water, power lines, telephone lines, gas mains, and even sewage lines.

It is necessary that each component of a utility should remain functional and not suffer from a breakdown. Because once it does, it becomes very difficult to manage such an infrastructure manually. This is where having access to geographic data helps provide the correct spatial dimensions to the infrastructure’s management.

This is why utilities today require new tools and strategies to remain competitive.

Background

A City Gas Distribution (CGD) is the distribution of natural gas to domestic, commercial, and industrial customers through a network of pipelines.

Natural gas is transported through transmission and distribution system with different pressure regimes.

CGD consisting of assets such as supply main pipes, feeder main pipes, service pipes, valves, reducers, and regulator devices to control and regulate gas flow, and furthermore, joints and fittings are required to join different pipes and meters to measure inlet and outlet of gas.

A Geographic information system (GIS) is a framework to capture, store and manipulate, analyze and visualize spatially/ geographically referenced data, The framework analyzes the spatial location and then organizes layers of related information into visualizations that make use of 3D scenes and maps. With such unique offerings, GIS can provide deeper insights into data such as relationships, specific situations, and patterns, thus helping users of the GIS system make better informed and smarter decisions.

Today’s pipe network GIS typically contains extensive and detailed information about each and every component of the physical network, it’s need actionable information to build and support their complex networks.

GIS helps to maintain asset knowledge which enables better use of available capacity such as size, pressure, and inlet quantity of gas at stations making it possible to use existing pipeline infrastructure before embarking on an expensive new build.

GIS today can define a CGD from the gas source to the customer meter at a high level of detail in one geodatabase.        

CGD Life Cycle

• Planning gas network with regulation stations, mains, services, valves etc.
• Creating an engineering design for the network

based on :

1. Best cost model
2. Available material through enterprise resource planning (ERP) system

• Performing analysis on proposed and existing networks for optimization
• Approving engineering designs
• Procuring material
• Field inspections during network construction
• Energizing the as-built network
• Service provisioning
• Asset management
• Gas outage management
• Operations and maintenance
• Leak analysis
• Cathodic protection

Benefits of GIS in CGD business

CGD is a geography-based business. A gas utility has an underlying network of pipelines to distribute natural gas from a source such as a city gate station or pressure regulator station (PRS) to the customer premises (Gas Meter).

Since the network is a widespread asset that serves customers and stakeholders over a large, distributed area, spatial information has a critical role to play. This makes the role of a GIS central to all the utility business processes be it planning, compliance, operations, monitoring, management, or customer service.

GIS technology and data are invaluable tools in CGD business processes, from planning and engineering to operations and maintenance.

GIS adds value to CGD businesses by facilitating integration with other systems, leading to improvements in analysis, visualization, planning and decision-making.

CGD companies use GIS to support the 5 common “business patterns”.

1- Planning and Technical Studies

• Model pipeline routes and determine rights of way that respect the land and landowners.
• Identify vulnerabilities, ensure regulatory compliance, pipeline route selection and ensuring pipelines proximity according to local authority regulations, specs, and codes.
• Plan and select pipeline route to ensure maximum reach with minimum length.

2- Design and Engineering

• Integrated with SynerGEE software, a program for steady-state analysis and design of distribution networks used by most of the major engineering gas companies.
• Map of conceptual and detailed pipeline route corridor along with physical feature, Crossing for planning, engineering, and execution purposes. Soil characterization including corrosion resistivity along the approved route.
• Study of gas demand according to number of customers/households through survey and mapping can help in the expansion planning of the pipeline network and prediction of the future growth can be accessed.
• Perform calculations such as pressure, inlet quantity of the gas etc., as well as to generate maps showing various design parameters at all nodes and pipes.
• Significant cost savings by selecting the optimum location, service area and route for PRS and pressure regulators.
• Time reduction of gas network design and analysis.

3-?Integrity Management

• Information on the material used for piping, diameter, operating pressure, whether a pipe is exposed or cased, leaks, and repair and maintenance history.
• Maintain asset knowledge to make better use of available capacity, such as size, pressure and volume of gas entering the station, allowing existing pipeline infrastructure to be used before expensive new construction.
• Asset management by locating?pipeline assets such as main and service lines by tracking their coordinates and calculating their relative distances.
• Maintain, manage and map the location of the distribution infrastructure and the thousands of kilometers of pipes that are directly linked to the asset data and network information.

4- Operation and Maintenance Management

• Information about the material used for the pipes, diameter, operating pressure, whether the pipe is exposed or encased, leaks in the pipes and their repair and maintenance history.
• This information helps in identifying threats to distribution system’s integrity that can be risky in the form of unpredictable damages to assets and people.

5-?Pipeline Leak Detection & Corrosion Monitoring

• For Pipeline Leak Detection, GIS provides a faster response time in the event of a leak or accident by providing incident information to the response team. GIS can identify the nearest valves or structures that need to be closed to isolate the leak area from the rest of the network to mitigate loss.
• For Corrosion Monitoring, It is important to identify pipe sections that may need protection. Buried pipes made of steel and iron other than plastic are subject to corrosion due to their proximity to the earth. If a pipe segment is steel, it may need to be cathodically protected. GIS can be very useful for corrosion monitoring as it can visually show on the map which pipe segments are covered by cathodic protection and which are not.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the integration of GIS and CGD is on the rise. An integrated GIS enables gas utilities to instantly and seamlessly share information about pipelines, services, cathodic sections or one-call tickets of any size across the enterprise.

This helps in planning for safety system such as cathodic protection for new pipelines or helps in locating all the assets for a one-call ticket.

As a result, an integrated GIS helps to make faster decisions, maintain system health, improve customer service and optimize business processes.