Smart gas grid control to increase biomethane injection capacity

为了实现更可持续的能源结构和脱碳供暖，越来越多的家庭使用的天然气需要来自可再生能源。一个主要的贡献可能来自AD（厌氧消化）工厂，它从废物中产生生物甲烷，并直接注入天然气网络。然而，这些工厂需要连接到网络的较低层次。在需求低的时候，管网的注入能力可能不足以吸收所有可能生产的天然气。这导致AD工厂减少产量或不得不燃烧多余的天然气。此外，由于网络中缺少注入能力，连接新AD工厂的应用程序可能会被拒绝。解决这一问题的一个办法是利用管网作为储存库，在生产过剩时增加压力以储存多余的生物甲烷，当需求再次超过生物甲烷产量时降低压力。然而，这需要一种可改装的智能控制解决方案，因为馈送网络的调控器目前都是手动调整的。autonomy已经开发出一种创新的可改造压力管理解决方案，用于控制LP（低压）网络。这个新项目旨在修改执行器设计并开发软件来控制AD工厂连接的MP（中压）网络。试验将在英国一部分由生物甲烷工厂提供的管网中进行，并在12个月的时间内测量该工厂的产量增加情况。

To move to a more sustainable energy mix and decarbonise heat an increasing proportion of gas used in homes will need to come from renewable sources. A major contribution could come from AD (anaerobic digestion) plants that produce bio-methane from waste and inject directly into the gas network. However, these plants need to be connected into the lower tiers of the network. At times of low demand, the networks can have insufficient injection capacity to take all the gas that could be produced. This leads to AD plants reducing output or having to flare surplus gas. Furthermore, applications to connect new AD plants can be turned down due to a lack of injection capacity on that part of the network. A solution to this problem is to use the network as storage increasing the pressure at times of surplus production to store excess biomethane and dropping the pressure when demand once more exceeds production of biomethane. However, this requires a retrofitable smart control solution because the governors feeding the networks are currently all manually adjusted. Utonomy has already developed an innovative retrofitable pressure management solution to control LP (low pressure) networks. This new project aims to modify the actuator design and develop the software to control the MP (medium pressure) networks to which AD plants are connected. Trials will be carried out on a part of the UK network fed by a biomethane plant and measure the increase in output of the plant over a 12 month period.