This summer Wales & West Utilities (WWU) launched a new project: Pipeline Revalidation using Quantum Sensors. The project aims to allow us to better monitor the integrity of our pipes, offering potential cost and efficiency savings alongside supporting future decarbonisation opportunities for the gas network.
To ensure ongoing safety, compliance, and operational efficiency, WWU uses Pipeline Inspection Gauges (PIGs) to monitor the internal condition of our 35,000kmpipe network.
These tools are critical for detecting corrosion, cracking, deformation, and other defects in the pipe network.
A significant challenge within the existing pipeline network is assessing the integrity of pipes without uncovering them, especially in older sections of the network. As well as posing a leakage risk, there is also the additional cost of uncovering welds of unknown quality during capital projects of damage assessments.
The Pipeline Revalidation using Quantum Sensors project will aim to determine whether advanced sensing can effectively assess the condition of target pipeline welding and other features, defects, or degradation, and whether advanced sensors can be applied to existing or new in-line tools to perform weld inspections.
The technology will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the condition of the existing network and its overall integrity and longevity, beyond what is achievable through current testing methods.
This enhanced insight will enable WWU and other Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs), to reclassify pipelines where appropriate. This will help reduce the significant cost and potential delay implications of uncovering welds of unknown quality during projects or damage assessments.
Furthermore, this capability will help future proof the network for distribution of green gases.
You can learn more about WWU’s Innovation projects here