Monitoring and emergency control of natural gas distribution urban networks

Natural gas distribution systems play a fundamental role in delivering a primary energy resource toward industrial, tertiary and residential building. These networks assume today an increasing relevance due to growing energy demand and tighter environmental constrains, but they are still operated and managed according to aging practices, without any "smartness" given by information and communication technologies. In this paper, a prototypal monitoring and controlling systems has been implemented on the natural gas medium pressure grid feeding the city of Bari (Italy). Results prove that such an application can considerably upgrade the overall reliability and efficiency of the gas distribution process, also assuring the possibility of very fast interventions in case of leakage or breaking of pipes with predictable benefits in terms of personal safety and economic savings.