Intelligent gas grid control

天然气管网的甲烷泄漏是一个严重的财务和环境问题。·甲烷对全球变暖的影响是二氧化碳的84倍（1）·全球损失的气体估计为30万GWh或每年160亿英镑·对全球变暖的影响相当于17亿吨二氧化碳当量，是英国二氧化碳当量总排放量的4倍多。除了更换管道，这需要大量的资本成本，减少泄漏的唯一方法是通过改善网络中的压力管理。通过降低管道中的平均压力，可以减少甲烷泄漏。这是因为泄漏量与压力成正比，例如，压力降低15%，泄漏量就会减少15%。现有的压力管理技术已经过时，成本高昂，安装耗时，需要持续的人工干预。Utonomy正在开发一种解决方案，使气体分配网络（GDN）能够远程调整网络中的压力或根据一天中的时间控制压力。该解决方案的一个关键部分是一个创新的执行器，可以改造为成千上万的气体调节器供给网络。该解决方案将很快在一个较大的GDN上进行测试。虽然目前的Utonomy解决方案已经在降低运营成本和减少泄漏方面提供了优势，但通过使用更复杂的控制解决方案，可以实现进一步的重大改进。该项目的目的是开发软件，该软件使用自学习算法和统计方法来预测网络中的需求，并计算任何时间点所有调速器的最佳设置。该软件将使网络中的压力能够连续和自动地控制，从而使其尽可能低而不低于最低值。在2016年开展的一个非常成功的英国创新概念验证项目中，Utonomy证明了这种方法的可行性。

Methane leakage from gas distribution networks is a serious financial and environmental issue.• Methane's impact on global warming is 84 times greater than CO2(1)• Gas lost globally is estimated at 300,000 GWh or £16 billion p.a.• The impact on global warming is equivalent to 1,700 million tonnes of CO2e which is more than 4 times total UK CO2e emissions.Other than replacing pipes, which has a massive capital cost, the only means of reducing leakage is through improved management of the pressures in the network. By reducing the average pressure in the pipes, methane leakage can be reduced. This is because the leakage is proportional to pressure e.g. a 15% pressure reduction results in 15% less leakage.Existing pressure management technology is out of date, expensive, time-consuming to install and requires continuous manual intervention.Utonomy is developing a solution that enables gas distribution networks (GDNs) to remotely adjust pressures in their network or to control pressures based on time of day. A key part of this solution is an innovative actuator that can be retrofitted to the thousands of gas governors feeding the network. This solution will shortly be trialled with one of the larger GDNs.While the current Utonomy solution already provides benefits in terms of lower operating costs and lower leakage, a further significant improvement could be achieved by using a more sophisticated control solution. The purpose of this project is to develop software, which uses self-learning algorithms and statistical methods to forecast the demand in the network and to calculate the optimum settings of all the governors at any point in time. The software would enable the pressure in the network to be continuously and automatically controlled so that it is as low as possible without going below the minimum. Utonomy proved the viability of this approach during a very successful Innovate UK proof of concept project carried out in 2016.Over 20yrs IPCC Fifth Assessment Chapter 8 table 8.7