Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform (IMMP)  

Summary:

A comprehensive systems-level approach to energy systems transitions is of paramount importance to promote market-driven adoption of technologies by advancing economy-wide decarbonization and spurring U.S. economic growth and leadership in energy innovation and economy-scale energy solutions. Energy systems transitions of the past have occurred over generations. However, we are now in a critical position where these transitions need to occur over a matter of decades.

The scientific community, government officials, and policymakers have had an increasingly challenging problem of finding accurate data to describe the GHG emissions landscape, with methane measurements posing one of the most difficult challenges. Accounting for methane emissions is extremely complicated, requiring a variety of technologies that currently cover different spatial and temporal resolutions, are reported in different units, and at times depend on varying operating work practices. A coherent system does not currently exist for spatially and temporally resolved methane emissions reporting, estimates, or observations. The IMMP platform supported by the EDDOP would not only identify the needs of the scientific community, policy makers, and government agencies, it will also enable operators to better understand the data being collected and to demonstrate progress in reducing emissions. An integrated methane monitoring platform can provide methane emission data to the greater industry, enabling people, organizations, and communities to make informed decisions about the energy transition. This project aspires to better understand baseline methane emissions data in order to ultimately implement the most efficient, cost-effective emissions mitigation activities.

GTI, as prime PI, will coordinate and lead a technical advisory panel of methane emissions measurement experts, representatives of communities negatively impacted by GHG emissions, and gas supply operators as stakeholders in the requirements gathering and design of a multiscale IMMP with the EDDOP. This cross-domain project will result in a data platform that will ingest and integrate various sources of methane measurement data and bridge technologies with the end goal of reporting methane emissions across the natural gas supply chain.

CSU will accumulate the latest controlled and field-testing data from leak detection and quantification (LDAQ) solutions to develop uncertainty models for current solutions. Depending on available data, analyzed methods will span facility to basin scale measurements, and include both survey solutions that move between facilities and continuous monitoring solutions that remain on one facility for extended periods. Uncertainty models will characterize multiple deployment modes for solutions, including single-facility measurements and larger measurement campaigns including 100s to 1000s of individual facility measurements.

Objectives:

This project proposes to tackle the challenge of finding and aggregating emissions data from a growing number of sources to make these data more useable for the community at large. A cross-domain project team will design a multiscale, integrated platform comprised of workflow processes, procedures, and information technology components that will provide industry wide, accurate quantification of methane emissions. A baseline understanding of the sources of GHG emissions, a method to account for them consistently and meaningfully, and a plan to incorporate emerging technologies in innovative ways in measuring them are critical first steps in decarbonizing our energy systems. Real-world observations of emissions – from component to facility to regional scale – have exposed issues with inventories and demonstrated promise to inform true emissions. This proposed project aims to develop a process for considering, integrating, and evaluating these measurements.

The project will have two main objectives:

  1. to gather requirements for an Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform (IMMP), which is a multiscale, integrated platform comprised of workflow processes, procedures, and information technology components that will provide industry wide, accurate quantification of methane emissions, and
  2. to create an Engineering, Design, Deployment, and Operating Plan (EDDOP) to build the IMMP.

Project Plan:

As a sub-recipient, CSU will support GTI Energy to accomplish the first main objective of the project which is to gather requirements for an integrated methane emissions monitoring platform (IMMP). CSU will share learnings from their experience with controlled methane release experiments, infrastructure information, and multi-scale monitoring to inform the requirements for sharing and hosting data on an IMMP. While the tasks outlined below will broadly address requirements, barriers, and uncertainties associated with data sharing and integration, they may use case studies to support the findings and conclusions.

Task 1: Sensor testing and controlled releases. This task will focus on the requirements for sharing and evaluating data from controlled release and field testing of methane monitoring solutions. The work in this task will address most of the following questions:

  • What is the importance of sensor testing and controlled release experiments? Why are these data important for methane monitoring?
  • What are the data types that should be included in controlled release testing? (e.g., wind data, experimental design, sensor data, etc.)
  • Within each data type, what features should be reported?
  • How do we evaluate the rigor and quality of controlled release or field testing?
  • What metrics should be reported as part of technology evaluation? What are the uncertainties in those metrics?
  • What are the uncertainties associated with evaluating technologies using controlled releases?
  • What are the barriers to sharing controlled release and sensor testing data? What are some ways to overcome barriers around controlled release and sensor testing data?
  • Same questions but for field deployment testing (e.g., testing on emissions that are in-situ, not controlled or simulated).

Task 2: Infrastructure and spatial information. This task will focus on the requirements for sharing and evaluating oil and natural gas infrastructure data, including location information. The work in this task will address most of the following questions:

  • What is the importance of having infrastructure and spatial information for emissions monitoring? Why are these data important for methane monitoring?
  • What degree of spatial accuracy is required for emission estimation? What type of spatial accuracy is achievable?
  • What are the key uncertainties associated with spatial location of infrastructure?
  • What data sources exist? Public? For-fee? Open-source? Private data held by operators?
  • Beyond location, what should be reported with infrastructure information?
  • What are the issues/shortcomings with currently available sources? What gaps exist?
  • What are the barriers to obtaining or utilizing infrastructure data? What are some ways to overcome barriers?
  • How do we evaluate the quality of infrastructure and spatial information?

Task 3: Integration of various scales of monitoring and measurement. This task will focus on the requirements for sharing and evaluating methane monitoring and measurement data at different scales. These scales can vary from satellites down to stationary point sensors. The work in this task will address most of the following questions:

  • What are the key uncertainties associated with data integration at various scales?
  • What metadata should be included with monitoring data to give it context?
  • What attributes or features must be included in monitoring data? What should be included?
  • How do we evaluate data quality for various scales of monitoring?
  • What are the barriers to integrating various scales of monitoring? What are some ways to overcome barriers?
  • What types of non-methane measurement data should be integrated with measurement data to provide context for monitoring?

Deliverable: A final report will synthesize the three topics addressing uncertainties, requirements, and barriers associated with each.

Schedule:

One year, beginning in 2023.

Results:

TBD 

Opportunities to Participate:

Interested in participating?  

Funding Provided by:

GTI Energy