Municipal gas distribution systems require a delicate balance—keep the natural gas flowing in just the right amounts. If there’s too little, or none, people don’t get something the really need. The heater won’t run, they can't cook, the clothes dryer won't work; you know the consequences.

But too much is also a problem, one which can have massively dangerous consequences—especially if it’s natural gas! But there are thousands of people turning natural gas on and off across, in larger cities, dozens of square miles. Knowing how to manage pressures and flow rates is critical to people. Or when there is an over-pressure situation, being aware of it, and having the ability to quickly detect it and fix it before it gets out of hand can be life-saving.

There are some things you need to be notified of somewhat quickly, but not instantly. But some things you need to know instantly. Like where your keys are when you’re late for work. But if you work for a municipal gas company, an over-pressure situation takes priority over pretty much everything else for safety. And instantly, is just barely fast enough.

It’s why so many companies are digitally transforming their line monitoring—and Emerson's DeltaV™ SaaS is leading the way.

Sensors placed at critical points throughout your system, you—and all authorized personnel who need to respond—will be notified quickly when an over-pressure situation happens. That way you can make adjustments, in person or remotely.

For gas regulators, the need to replace IT systems can be for various reasons. Their system no longer serves their business operations, wants to launch new initiatives, or unexpected events make them re-evaluate the need for a reliable backup system.

According to local power companies, more than 4.4 million customers were without power in the winter of 2021 deep freeze in Houston, Texas. Cold weather shut natural gas production and pipelines, which refineries use in power generation. Widespread power outages and instability of external power supply forced shutdowns across the state.

Natural Gas is one of few fuel sources that's delivered directly to us, the consumers. Natural gas regulators are responsible for maintaining and operating gas pipelines and facilities up to the residential gas meter. Because it's an explosive and dangerous fluid, they must prioritize safety and take the necessary precautions to protect systems and prevent accidents. 

Recently, we've witnessed, even with all the safety procedures in place, events out of our control can still occur. 

We help Local Natural Gas Distribution companies (utilities regulated by states) find solutions to aid them in meeting safety and state regulations, such as an over-pressure condition occurring on the distribution system that can affect all customers served by the system.

Gas distribution organizations can quickly and easily increase safety and efficiency by hosting their data in Emerson's DeltaV SaaS cloud-native IIoT platform. Our intuitive, scalable cloud-based platform supports any digital monitoring hardware for real-time data with an aggregated view of operations. Our platform provides a flexible, secure solution for data acquisition, remote monitoring, remote control, and alarm management.

We simplify the connection between sensors to get you the data you need to make better business decisions. All communication is encrypted and secured with evergreen software and releases. When using our software, you’ll have many ways of sending and sharing data with other applications.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” 

As most things in life, planning can make a world of difference when it comes to systems failing. But when it comes to human safety involved in those fails that only highlights the importance of planning ahead to be ready for anything.

One of my favorite sayings is 'hope for the best, but plan for the worst.' This is extremely important for natural gas distribution because planning ahead could save lives, lots of human lives. Which is why it's critical when considering a secondary system in case your primary system stops functioning.