Gas smart grids
Self-regulating grids
Active systems that integrate different types of energy and make decisions autonomously to optimise energy distribution. Smart Grids are an ambitious project thanks to which, in the very near future, energy will be distributed through networks capable of instantly managing and regulating multiple, discontinuous, and bidirectional flows.
TERRANOVA, a Pietro Fiorentini Group company, leader in the development of software for smart metering, operations and smart grid management, offers a wide range of software studied ad hoc to respond to the complex, utility sector needs.
TAMM is a multiservice software system designed to automate the processes of remote metering and remote management of Gas, Electricity and Water meters in a smart metering scenario. The TAMM application was designed to support Distribution Companies in managing the processes involved in remote metering and remote management of metering groups for the supplied utilities, in compliance with established functional, efficiency and security standards in different application scenarios: Industrial, Commercial and Residencial.
All of this is integrated with Narrow Band Internet of Things technology (NBIoT), the most promising communication technology for utility metering.
For more information: terranovasoftware.eu
Cases of successful projects
Pietro Fiorentini’s systemic approach aims to pursue simple connections that interact with each other to create resilient systems. The achievement of the maximum level of Smart Gas Grids implementation is to achieve full integration between gas distribution networks.
Smart Grids can greatly contribute to achieving the European objectives of the Green Deal. Smart Grids implementation allows to optimise flows, transforming the final consumer in producer of energy, and maximise the safety and eliminating leakage and waste.
Distributing natural gas through sustainable, smart grids means designing systems which feature flexibility in managing flows, the ability to maintain balance within decentralised grids with bidirectional flows and resilience of the systems themselves.
Expertise areas
Biomethane
Unlike other renewables, biomethane requires limited investment in terms of infrastructure. Moreover, regarding emissions, it is considered to be neutral as it is produced via the digestion of biomass from by-products, industrial processing waste and organic material.
Specific incentives promoted at the European level are making its use economically sustainable, and as a result production and use of this source are being strongly encouraged.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen combustion does not release carbon dioxide, but rather steam, and it is easier to transport and store than electricity. This makes hydrogen the ideal ally for renewable energy production.
Today, hydrogen can only be injected into the pipeline network and blended with natural gas up to certain percentages: we are commited to creating systems and devices that can overcome this limit.
Water
Water is a primary resource, a basic necessity for life, and as such requires proper management from all points of view: institutional, environmental and economic.
The sector’s current objective is to automate the process through the digitalisation of water networks, thereby optimising resources and data management to optimise management and minimise the loss of unaccounted-for water, whether through leaks or fraud.
E-fuels
Methanation process has many advantages, including the possibility of storing electricity in the form of renewable methane in gas infrastructures, capturing carbon dioxide for later use, and replacing a fossil source as it can be directly used in heating or vehicles as a drop-in replacement fuel.
Pietro Fiorentini’s technological solution relies on a biological methanation process to generate renewable methane. The biology for this process is developed by MicroPyros BioEnerTec GmbH™, part of Pietro Fiorentini Group.
Power-to-gas
Managing ‘green electrons’ over time and space is important to obtain as much energy as possible when renewable sources such as the sun and the wind are available.
Power-to-gas, a technology that transforms surplus electricity into gas molecules that can be transported over long distances at low cost and can offer the possibility to seasonally store renewable energy, is the answer.
Cathodic protection
When iron and steel come into contact with an electrolyte, such as soil, a phenomenon called electrolytic corrosion occurs in any infrastructure made of metal.
Electrolytic corrosion cannot be completely eliminated, but specific measures can be taken in the design and construction phases to significantly reduce its effects.
