Why Data Is at the Heart of Better Gas Network Delivery
The UK’s gas network has come a long way since 1812 when the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company began providing the world’s first public supply of coal gas in London. Britain’s gas network of today – comprising the 5,000 miles of high-pressure pipes of the National Transmission Systems and the 176,000 miles of the Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs) that deliver gas to households and businesses – are a far cry from the couple of hundred miles of pipes used just over two centuries ago.
Gas has become the predominant source of the UK’s energy since the 1960s and the discovery of large deposits in the North Sea. If we are to achieve net zero by 2050, the country’s relationship with natural gas will have to change. Adding hydrogen and biomethane to supplies of natural gas are two of the key decarbonisation strategies being explored.
In 2021, the UK Government announced the launch of the Green Gas Support Scheme to increase the proportion of “green gas” – biomethane produced through anaerobic digestion – funded by a Green Gas Levy on fossil fuel producers.
This policy change has made the gas network even more complicated as it requires the addition of new entry connections into the gas distribution network to enable biomethane producers to inject their renewable gas. At the same time as helping in the journey towards net zero, the addition of biomethane into the grid will help increase the security and diversity of energy supplies.
Hydrogen Blending: The Next Frontier
The UK Government has outlined its support for another decarbonisation initiative. This involves blending up to 20% hydrogen (by volume) into the gas distribution networks. It supports the country’s fledgling hydrogen production sector.It also helps reduce the carbon emissions of gas.
Using up to 20% hydrogen means existing infrastructure and appliances can still be used. Tests by TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory showed positive results. Gas meter performance and accuracy with hydrogen blends are comparable to their operation with natural gas.
The government is due to make a strategic policy decision on transmission-level hydrogen blending this year.
If 20% hydrogen is blended into the gas grid, the impact could be significant. The Energy Networks Association estimates that blending could save up to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.
Why Data Matters More Than Ever
The gas network is becoming increasingly complex. There’s a need to monitor gas usage more closely for reporting purposes. Price volatility in uncertain times adds another layer of complexity. Everyone in the gas sector needs the most up-to-date information on demand and supply.
Procode is perfectly placed to help enable this data-driven future of the gas sector. By the end of 2024, there were 15.5 million smart gas meters installed in the UK. Procode’s industry-leading platforms tap into this rich stream of data.
Intelligent Data Adapter gives suppliers, distribution networks, and gas distributors comprehensive access to smart meter data from across the country. It simplifies the process of communicating with the Data Communications Company’s smart meter network. It minimises manual processes and resource-intensive tasks. The fault tolerant architecture with load balancing provides resilience. The adapter is always available and always running, even if the DCC is not accessible.
Procode’s Smart Datastream allows organisations to access valuable information that flows every second from more than 30 million smart meters. Once a customer gives consent, we provide 13-month historical data alongside real-time smart meter data.
The Industry’s Move Towards Open Data
Others in the gas ecosystem are also gearing up for this data-rich future.
National Gas, the UK’s gas system operator, provides open data to the energy market via its Gas Data Portal. The portal launched in summer 2023 to replace the previous Market Information Provision Initiative (MIPI) platform.
The data available includes balancing, calorific value, supply, demand, linepack, price, storage and weather. Live supply, demand and linepack data is updated every 12 minutes. Supply and demand forecasts are published hourly. In total, the portal contains more than 12,000 data items. Most include five years of rolling historic data.
The portal also allows for ad hoc data requests to support new data items.
Making Data More Accessible
Improving access to data is at the heart of the National Gas strategy. In November 2024, National Gas launched REST APIs. These make data retrieval quicker and simpler. The new API provides the same data as the existing SOAP APIs. However, it simplifies the request for gas operational data. It separates requests for data for a gas day from requests based on publication date and time.
National Gas has committed to build and deploy a new search and customisation feature. This is part of its Digitalisation Strategy Action Plan from December 2024. Decarbonisation isn’t the only concern making gas network data invaluable. The February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia delivered a shock to energy markets. The price of gas jumped by 180% in the two weeks following the invasion. Prices have since moderated. However, they remain well above pre-invasion levels.
This shock generated waves in the gas supply market. It particularly affected relative new market entrants. Many went bankrupt and had their licences revoked by Ofgem. Examples include Together Energy Limited and CNG Energy Limited. Hundreds of thousands of gas customers were shifted to suppliers of last resort as a consequence.
The Changing Landscape of Gas Shipping
The gas shipping sector is therefore in a state of flux, with many company failures and geopolitical forces coming to bear. As a result, many suppliers are now looking to start shipping for themselves and want a powerful, reliable and scalable solution to their gas shipping needs.
Procode’s feature-rich Gas Shipping Platform is used by leading shippers in the market and automates previously resource-intensive tasks, including flow management. Intuitive dashboards make the business of understanding flows, demand forecasting and in-day balancing simpler, and can help small suppliers shipping for themselves reduce their costs as well as large shippers handle multiple suppliers.
It is scalable, with the ability to handle a portfolio of any size, for both domestic and non-domestic supply, giving actionable insights for trading and operations teams and production managers.
As you would expect from a company that prides itself on innovation in technology, industry-leading data management is built into the heart of our Gas Shipping Platform.
At Procode, we believe that the growing complexity of the gas network means that having the richest and widest data at your fingertips will be invaluable. Procode is your data partner on the journey to Britain’s net zero future.