Network

NETWORK / 23 / APRIL/MAY 2020 has committed to meeting monthly (initially in virtual environments). And an advisory group of senior stakeholders will meet quarterly to provide feedback on the programme's work. ENA is still welcoming applications to join this advisory group. One of the • rst expected outputs of the Gas Goes Green programme will come from workstream 1 in the form of a review of the a ordability ben- e• ts which a net zero gas grid could o er to the UK's energy transition. And a complemen- tary piece of work looking at the emissions reduction bene• ts of continued investment in the Iron mains replacement pro- gramme is also expected before the end of May. Network, and its sister title Utility Week, will closely follow progress for the Gas Goes Green initiative and welcome industry commentary on its impact and e ectiveness in clarifying the road forward for gas in a decar- bonising world. Overleaf we share insights into three of the founding case studies from gas sector innova- tion scheme which underpin the programme's ambitions. You can fi nd out more about Gas Goes Green on the ENA website: www.energynetworks.org. DID YOU KNOW? Simon Sutton, technical director EMEA at Doble Engineering Company refl ects on the fundamentals of condition-based asset maintenance. The adage "if it ain't broke, don't fi x it" is apt when it comes to asset maintenance and one of the drivers behind utilities shifting from time-based to condition-based maintenance. Determining asset condition is therefore crucial for knowing when to act, and a wide range of online and offl ine test methods exist to feed data into the decision-making process. Online techniques include survey tools (e.g., infrared, RFI), temporary monitors (e.g., partial discharge) and online monitors (e.g., dissolved gas analysis). These techniques detect developing problems and can be used to trigger maintenance or further investigations. Offl ine methods measure parameters that cannot be assessed online, however they do require outages. Online and offl ine techniques provide diagnostic capability to probe the cause of a problem, thereby allowing appropriate action to be planned. Car maintenance is a good analogy. This might occur every 20,000 miles, or when a warning light comes on (triggered by condition monitoring), or as a backstop, every two years. In this instance, the "online" monitoring detects developing issues (e.g., low tyre pressure) not addressed by the simple (wear and tear) distance metric. The driver is also an onboard "survey" tool detecting unusual noises and vibrations. The car experiences an "outage" when it is taken to a garage and examined using "offl ine" methods. Selecting the right tools to detect and diagnose issues early, applying the appropriate analytics and engineering knowledge underpins effective maintenance practice. When it comes to maintenance, "if it ain't broke, don't fi x it" are good words to remember. I N D U S T RY I N S I G H T If it ain't broke, don't fi x it "the world's • rst zero carbon gas grid". The plan envisages the use of a combination of hydrogen and biomethane. Gas Goes Green will proceed along a timetable laid out in the in‹ uential 'Pathways to Net Zero''report which was produced by ENA in partnership with Navigant and Imperial College London last year. However, ENA has also been clear in project documentation that Gas Goes Green will push beyond the recommendations of Pathways to Net Zero in relation to recom- mended industry action against climate change. Gas Goes Green, which will be championed by former Cadent CEO and gas indus- try veteran Chris Train (see column), will centre around six workstreams, each of which supports a drive towards net zero for the UK gas grid and the wider energy system. These are: 1. Investing in net zero 2. Gas quality and safety 3. Consumer options 4. System enhancement 5. Hydrogen transformation 6. Communications and stakeholder engagement A cross-industry steering group which will oversee progress against all of these workstreams Recent research from the Energy Systems Catapult found that while 75 per cent of people believe climate change is a serious threat, they are unclear as to which activities in their lives emit carbon – only 49 per cent realise natural gas heating contributes to carbon emissions. Cadent's anaerobic digester near Doncaster produces biomethane from local crops. DECARBONISATION OF HEAT

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