Italgas advances network automation
Italian gas distribution system operator Italgas is growing the connections with ten additional locations across the country to its remote command and control system.
The new connections follow a pilot in the Milan city metro commune of Pozzuolo Martesana, about 25km to the east of the city centre, and utilises Italgas’s in-house developed DANA (Digital Advanced Network Automation) software for the remote control and management of digital gas networks.
To date, the connections have reached the networks and plants serving communes in the cities of Turin, Matera, Potenza and Foggia on the mainland and Trapani, Enna and Ragusa in Sicily.
The programme is expected to be completed by 2023 when the Italgas Group’s entire 75,000km network automation is under the control of the new software.
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“We are committed to making our networks ready to welcome and distribute a multiplicity of renewable gases, thus contributing decisively to the decarbonisation of consumption and the energy transition,” comments Italgas Reti CEO Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco.
“For this to happen, networks need to be controlled in real time and remotely controlled from a central control room. DANA serves precisely this purpose: to remotely manage networks and plants so that they can deliver green gas mixtures to the end user in total safety and efficiency.”
The DANA platform enables personnel involved in the operation of the network assets to have a real-time overview of the distribution system, providing verification of the operation of all the components and their direct remote management.
A cartographic system incorporated in the software allows navigation of the individual segments of the network.
Operational data collected from the field are fed into in-house developed analytics and predictive maintenance algorithms, enabling the early detection of anomalies and the development of new approaches to the operation and maintenance of the distribution assets.
The digital transformation of the networks also is key to accommodating and managing renewable gases, such as biomethane and hydrogen, whose production is expected to develop strongly in the coming years, Italgas says in a statement.
Italgas anticipates becoming the world’s first gas utility in the world to fully digitise its network.
