North Carolina-based Duke Energy is working with Accenture and Microsoft to develop a platform that measures actual baseline methane emissions from natural gas distribution systems.

This platform will provide near-real-time data collection, allowing Duke Energy’s field response teams to identify and repair methane leaks more rapidly.

The cloud-hosted platform will track and prioritise data associated with leaks using detection methods such as satellites, fixed-wing aircraft and ground-level sensing technology. The sensor technology can detect trace levels of methane emissions that current technology may not identify. The platform should augment the company’s drive towards net-zero methane emissions in its natural gas business by 2030.

As a part of this effort, the companies will execute monthly satellite captures in Greenville, South Carolina, beginning this month to refine the technology for identifying methane leaks on Duke Energy’s pipeline system. Duke Energy anticipates implementing its methane-monitoring platform by October 2021.

Duke Energy began testing satellites for detecting leaks on its natural gas system in 2020. The company found satellite detection had the potential to be more accurate and an expedient way to locate leaks when compared with traditional leak survey methods such as aerial and foot patrols.

“This platform will re-imagine how natural gas local distribution companies calculate methane emissions and perform leak surveys and improve the expediency in which leaks may be repaired, resulting in dramatically lower methane emissions,” said Brian Weisker, senior vice president at Duke Energy. “The current industry standard uses calculated data to report methane emissions, which leaves room for inaccuracies when it comes to actual methane levels.”

To help design the Microsoft Azure-based platform to handle a high volume of data from various sources, Accenture – in collaboration with Avanade, its joint venture with Microsoft – will apply its experience in analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. These technologies will help drive the insights from the platform for improving operations and delivering on the methane emissions goal.

“Our work with Duke Energy and Microsoft demonstrates how technology, innovation and artificial intelligence can help address sustainability challenges,” said Mark Schuler, a managing director in Accenture’s utilities practice. “Together, we can show others how to achieve their sustainability goals and make it an integral part of delivering value for all stakeholders, and not as one-off practices.”

Darryl Willis, Microsoft corporate vice president of energy and sustainability, added: “We are looking forward to contributing to this collaboration with Duke Energy, Accenture and Avanade in supporting Duke Energy’s progress to net-zero methane by 2030. This is a great example of innovation and collaboration coming together to enable industries to more accurately detect, calculate and report on emissions and take action.”

Methane makes up nearly ten per cent of all US greenhouse gas emissions every year, according to recent estimates from the US Environmental Protection Agency, with the energy sector being one of the largest sources of US methane emissions.

Duke Energy is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 7.9 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 51,000MW of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,500 people.

The company is executing an aggressive clean energy strategy to create a smarter energy future for its customers and communities with goals of at least a 50 per cent carbon reduction by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Ireland-based Accenture is a professional services company with capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining experience and skills across more than 40 industries, it offers strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations services. It has 569,000 employees serving clients in more than 120 countries.