Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 by Morten Karstoft Rasmussen
Data could have found that leak!
With the the data available to heat utilities they can spot leaks as soon as they happen
As a heat utility, you are probably painfully familiar with the problem of tracking down leaks in your distribution network.
The distribution network of district heating is somewhat of a black box to utilities because it is buried deep underground and not easily accessible. Locating leaks can be an extensive process demanding a lot of time and resources from utilities, as they must perform field visits every time they experience flow inconsistencies in the pipes. But, what if there was a way to spot leaks early using the infrastructure already in place?
The solution to a common problem
We have found a way to solve the mystery of the pipes below our feet. Knowing what happens underground has provided the necessary knowledge to ensure that utilities like our good partners Brande District Heating will be able to locate leaks and heat loss etc. faster and thereby reduce the cost of it. If Brande had been able to monitor what happens in the pipes in their distribution network, they could have spotted the leak and minimised its cost.
Get the full value of your data with Heat Intelligence
In search of a solution, Brande District Heating agreed to let us take a look into their historical data and examine the activity in their distribution network for the past two years. To be able to scrutinise the data, we inserted it in the system of our new analytics tool and analysed the data collected from each individual meter in the network. From this data, we were able to identify when there had been a breach and more importantly, where the leaks had occurred. Yes, the results of this analysis actually showed the location of the huge breach Brande had initially struggled to find.
This is only the beginning. At the time of writing, we are exploring new ways of using data to gain transparency in the distribution network. This way, we can push the utility business forward and become even more energy efficient.
I would argue that making use of the data available to them, utilities all over the world could save money and resources in the future. The solutions are ready. The question is; are we ready to take advantage?
Do you want to be able to find your leaks without digging?
Learn more about our analytics tool, Heat Intelligence, right here.
