Duke Energy Corporation, an American electric power, and natural gas holding company, recently announced it is working with Microsoft and Accenture on the development of a new technology platform designed to measure actual baseline methane emissions from natural gas distribution systems.
The first-of-its-kind platform will not only provide near-real-time data collection, allowing Duke Energy’s field response teams to more rapidly identify and repair methane leaks, but also track and prioritize data associated with leaks using advanced detection methods such as satellites, fixed-wing aircraft, and ground-level sensing technology. The new sensor technology can detect trace levels of methane emissions that current technology may not identify.
The companies will execute monthly satellite captures in Greenville, S.C., beginning in August to further refine the technology for identifying methane leaks on Duke Energy’s pipeline system. Duke Energy anticipates implementing its methane-monitoring platform by October 2021 which is meant to be a part of the company’s drive toward net-zero methane emissions in its natural gas business by 2030.
To help design the Microsoft Azure-based platform to handle a high volume of data from a variety of sources, Accenture – in collaboration with Avanade, its joint venture with Microsoft – will apply its experience in analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. These technologies will help drive the insights from the platform for improving operations and delivering on the methane emissions goal. To recap, methane makes up nearly 10% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions every year, according to recent estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with the energy sector being one of the largest sources of U.S. methane emissions.
“This platform will re-imagine how natural gas local distribution companies calculate methane emissions and perform leak surveys and improve the expediency in which leaks may be repaired, resulting in dramatically lower methane emissions. The current industry standard uses calculated data to report methane emissions, which leaves room for inaccuracies when it comes to actual methane levels.”
Brian Weisker, Senior VP and COO, Natural gas, Duke Energy
