Duke Energy’s Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Extension project was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management for nearly $1 million of funding.
The company’s current industry-leading methane-monitoring platform – which has reduced recordable leaks by more than 85% since the beginning of 2022 – uses satellites, sensors and other cutting-edge technologies to detect leaks and measure real-time methane emissions on natural gas distribution systems. The Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Extension project will expand this work to interstate and customer natural gas assets.
The project will also offer a standardized framework for methane measurement and quantification that can extend to upstream components, including midstream transmission and storage, and upstream production and gathering facilities.
“We are proud of our industry-leading role in methane reduction,” said Sasha Weintraub, senior vice president and president of Duke Energy’s natural gas business. “This is a great example of innovation and collaboration, and we are excited to integrate and deploy methane emissions tracking to help decarbonize the natural gas value chain.”
The project includes the Williams-owned Transco pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Duke Energy. Methane emissions monitoring tools will be deployed at a compressor station on the pipeline, expanding Williams’ use of innovative ground-based, aerial and satellite emissions tools currently used to gather data as part of its enterprise-wide NextGen Gas strategy.
“Collaboration with our downstream customers like Duke Energy is crucial to advance the use of technology and to create opportunities to reduce emissions throughout the entire natural gas supply chain,” said Chad Zamarin, executive vice president of corporate strategic development at Williams. “As an industry, it’s critical that energy suppliers, customers and academics work together to share information and develop best practices to measure and reduce emissions, ultimately making certified low-carbon gas available to consumers.”
The project will take place in North Carolina later this year and will leverage academia, natural gas operations, digital and advanced cloud computing technologies as well as data science to deploy, measure and analyze methane emissions data. The project scope includes:
- Piloting measurement technologies such as satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and aerial light detection and ranging, to detect and quantify methane emissions on both local distribution and upstream natural gas assets.
- Testing continuous methane-monitoring technologies on both local distribution and midstream natural gas assets using monitoring sensors, gas cloud imaging cameras and handheld/portable gas-sensing analyzers to detect and quantify methane emissions.
- Analyzing data from the various technologies to better understand their performance, operational effectiveness and accuracy in different environments and weather scenarios.
- Leveraging the results of the technology pilots and data architecture and design to develop a platform and strategic deployment plan to inform the Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform.
Video: Learn more about Duke Energy’s methane emissions-monitoring platform here.
Decarbonizing the natural gas system
Duke Energy’s environmental goals for its natural gas local distribution companies are to achieve net-zero methane emissions by 2030 for its own operations (Scope 1 emissions) and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 for natural gas purchases upstream and sold to customers downstream (Scope 3 emissions).
To achieve these goals, Duke Energy is reducing methane leaks on its system, working with upstream suppliers on their efforts to reduce and eliminate emissions and offering customers opportunities to purchase renewable natural gas (RNG) and carbon offsets. Duke Energy also offers energy efficiency programs that provide incentives for customers to install high-efficiency natural gas equipment.
Duke Energy also is investing in RNG, an important tool to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. RNG is considered carbon neutral because it displaces geological gas and reduces the release of methane to the atmosphere. The company is sourcing RNG for use at compressed natural gas stations, providing transportation customers with a gasoline or diesel alternative, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.
Duke Energy
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,600 people.
Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.
Duke Energy was named to Fortune’s 2023 “World’s Most Admired Companies” list and Forbes’ “World’s Best Employers” list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy’s illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
About Williams
As the world demands reliable, low-cost, low-carbon energy, Williams (NYSE: WMB) will be there with the best transport, storage and delivery solutions to reliably fuel the clean energy economy. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Williams is an industry-leading, investment grade C-Corp with operations across the natural gas value chain including gathering, processing, interstate transportation, storage, wholesale marketing and trading of natural gas and natural gas liquids. With major positions in top U.S. supply basins, Williams connects the best supplies with the growing demand for clean energy. Williams owns and operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines system wide – including Transco, the nation’s largest volume pipeline – and handles approximately one third of the natural gas in the United States that is used every day for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. Learn how the company is leveraging its nationwide footprint to incorporate clean hydrogen, NextGen Gas and other innovations at williams.com.
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