Summary

1. Smart gas meter: new technology for a digital network
2. A smarter gas grid enabling real-time network management
3. Integrating smart gas networks into the global energy system

A smart, digitalized gas network is key to:

• Enabling regional decarbonization by promoting the injection of renewable energy into the grid, optimizing the efficiency of gas distribution, and managing consumption.
• Completing the energy transition at an affordable cost by taking advantage of existing infrastructure with large storage reserves and great flexibility.

Making the gas network smarter involves developing tools to obtain a better knowledge of consumption and critical points in the network, and to optimize its sizing and operation (maintenance, emergency interventions, increased injection of renewable gases)

• Smart gas meter development and rollout: GRDF managed the world’s largest smart gas meter project, which consisted of the replacement of 11 million meters with new smart devices. This large-scale industrial project is beneficial to all our customers as it improves energy management and optimizes the gas distribution network.
• Smart gas grids for enhanced, more dynamic gas network management: in addition to smart meters, other technologies are rolled out on gas networks to remotely detect any malfunctions, ensure the highest quality of service possible, as well as pilot the whole system in a more dynamic way. This will particularly allow for faster and more massive integration of renewable gases in gas distribution networks.
• Integrating smart gas networks into the global energy system (sector coupling): smart gas networks can participate in the supply-demand balance of electricity by using hybrid heat pumps or cogeneration devices for the production of decentralized electricity. With power-to-gas technologies, they could even facilitate the management of intermittent renewable energy in electricity grids.

Smart gas meter: new technology for a digital network

GRDF took a major step towards smart grids for smarter cities through a large-scale deployment of our first generation of smart gas meters. After a thorough phase of development, we were able to roll out 11 million of these new meters to all our customers throughout France in less than six years. Advantages for our customers include:

• Clearer information about their energy consumption, helping them understand exactly what they are paying for.
• More frequent data delivery to save energy.
• Meter readings no longer require technician visits to your home.

It also:

• Improves energy management with individual and aggregated energy consumption data for customers, energy suppliers, and authorized third parties.
• Helps optimize our distribution network.

Key results at end of 2023

Having gained highly-valuable experience and technical expertise from this large-scale industrial project, GRDF is now already working on the next generation of its smart meters.

A smarter gas grid enabling real-time network management

New technologies are rolled out on gas networks to remotely detect any malfunctions, ensure the highest quality of service possible, and pilot the whole system in a more dynamic way. This will particularly allow for faster and larger-scale integration of renewable gases in gas distribution networks.

In addition to smart gas meters, new tools are developed and rolled out to create smart gas grids designed to:

• Participate in regional decarbonization by promoting the injection of renewable energy into the grid, optimizing the efficiency of transmission, and managing demand.
• Complete the energy transition at an affordable cost by leveraging existing infrastructure with large storage reserves and strong flexibility.

Real-time network management: increase the gas network performance using new technologies and artificial intelligence

The gas network is constantly being modernized to become "smart". GRDF rolls out sensors and systems for reporting, processing, and making information easily available enabling fine-tuned, more dynamic knowledge of the network.

Cathodic protection involves injecting a current through our steel pipelines to protect them from corrosion. This is achieved using equipment called "withdrawals" that enable the current injection. In total, 2,900 withdrawal installations protect GRDF's steel network, equivalent to approximately 50,000 km of network.

500 pieces of equipment known as "drainages" complement the cathodic protection installations and help protect the steel pipelines from electrical currents coming from railway lines (trains, trams).

In total, there are 3,400 cathodic protection devices equipped with remote monitoring systems to reduce the necessary travel for maintenance.

The remote monitoring of the 3,400 devices is carried out as follows:

• 1/3 via 4G telecommunication networks,
• 2/3 via GRDF's 169 MHz radio network, which has been under development since 2023.

The aim is now to further strengthen our data acquisition capabilities to improve analysis, forecasting and data exchanges with other network operators, develop remote operation management and automation to increase our performance, and integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize grid management.

Accommodating the decentralized production of renewable gases in gas networks

With over 500 sites injecting biomethane into GRDF’s network in 2023, with many more expected in the coming years, our distribution network is facing an unprecedented change in monitoring management.

In addition to real-time network management, new tools have been developed and implemented to guarantee the safe injection of renewable gases, with priority over natural gas even in the event of network saturation.

Increasing the distribution network consumption capacity by linking several consumption areas together through meshes is an option, when economically viable.

This can also be done through reverse flow stations by compressing the unconsumed biomethane on a distribution network and then injecting it into the higher-pressure network. It thereby allows the gas to be sent back to a gas consumption area further away. The operation is automatic: the reverse flow station is combined with a compressor that starts when the network pressure reaches a high threshold (i.e. higher than the estimated consumption of the biomethane station area). The excess gas is therefore compressed and then injected into another network. This will allow the pressure of the initial network to be lowered to a low threshold where the compressor will stop. At the end of 2023, 18 reverse flow stations were in operation in France.

Temporary storage of excess biomethane production can also be applied. The FLORES (Operational Flexibility of the Network) solution, developed by GRDF, relies on cylinders that allow the biomethane to be temporarily stored in compressed form. The biomethane can be reinjected after saturation or used directly as an NGV source. FLORES units, located upstream of the biomethane injection stations on the producer's site, require little development. They are composed of a concrete slab, an assembly of bottles (shapes and sizes may vary), and a containerized compressor.

Integrating smart gas networks into the global energy system

Smart gas networks can participate in the supply-demand balance of electricity by utilising hybrid heat pumps or cogeneration devices for the production of decentralized electricity. With power-to-gas technologies, they could even facilitate the management of intermittent renewable energy in electricity grids.

Sector coupling strategies and technologies have the potential to enhance the flexibility of energy systems and thereby integrate higher shares of renewables. Smart gas networks and renewable gases have an important role to play in this regard.

GRDF works with an extensive ecosystem of partners, including manufacturers, start-ups, and R&D centres, to support the development of high-performance and innovative products that take advantage of the versatility of gas. Our teams make contributions to all phases of product development, ranging from design and engineering to promotion.

Hybrid heat pumps: making the best of renewable gas and electricity to produce heat

A hybrid heat pump system integrates an air-to-water heat pump with another heat source, such as a condensing gas boiler, to create a highly energy-efficient domestic heating and hot water system ideal for boiler replacements in homes. How does it work?

The hybrid heat pump is a pragmatic solution because it cleverly combines the best of two proven technologies. The system is governed by a smart regulation system that selects the most tailored and economical equipment to be run, based on a range of factors, including the external temperature and current electricity and gas prices:

• In mild weather, the heat pump will supply energy for space heating.
• In colder conditions, the very high energy performance condensing boiler activates and takes over the partial or total production of domestic heat. Conversely, domestic hot water is produced by condensing boilers. However, the efficiency of the process can be further enhanced by pre-heating the water using the heat pump. Advantages for our customers:
• Energy savings: up to 40% compared to a traditional boiler and additional energy savings compared to the use of a standalone heat pump.
• Cost effectiveness: the use of existing heating infrastructure in retrofit projects minimizes upfront costs. The equipment occupies very little space, and can be easily retrofitted in existing buildings without requiring extensive renovation or low temperature radiators.
• Environmental sustainability: carbon footprint is significantly reduced, thanks to the use of the heat pump, compared to a traditional gas boiler, with extra reduction potential if renewable gas is used on the gas boiler part.

Micro-cogeneration system based on a fuel cell: heat and electricity simultaneously from gas

The fuel cell is an innovative and energy-efficient product that runs on natural gas. This technology is based on the principle of micro-cogeneration to ensure simultaneous local production of heat and electricity.

The technology is mature with several dozen fuel cells already installed in France. It is particularly suitable for existing well-insulated single-family houses that have a high demand for electricity on one hand, and controlled heating and domestic hot water consumption on the other.

Example of a cogeneration module

Advantages for our customers

In addition to energy savings compared to traditional heating systems, such as heat pumps or condensing boilers, the fuel cell has many advantages:

• Optimized electricity production at the price of natural gas.
• An "all-in-one" system that covers both heating and hot water needs and up to 80% of the annual electricity needs of an existing single-family house.
• Same heating comfort and hot water production as with a condensing boiler.
• Up to two times higher electrical efficiency than conventional cogeneration solutions.
• Very low noise level (< 30 dB (A)).
• Low emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases (NOx, SOxX, CO2, etc.).
• Easy installation and connection, similar to a floor-standing boiler.
• Reduced energy bills (electricity produced can be self-consumed or injected into the electricity network).

Power-to-gas technologies: facilitating the management of intermittent electricity production by transporting and storing it in gaseous form

The electric system enables the production of large quantities of renewable energy, but it has limitations when it comes to providing long-term electric storage (less than 1 TWh in France in 2023).

On the other hand, the gas system’s ability to store large quantities of renewable energy is very high (~130 TWh in France in 2023). Therefore, converting surplus or curtailed renewable electricity into gases, such as hydrogen and/or synthetic methane, would provide seasonal flexibility and storage, building on existing gas networks and underground storage systems.

How does it work?

Surplus renewable electricity is transformed into hydrogen through the electrolysis of water. The hydrogen can be used directly, or it can also be converted into synthetic methane through the industrial process of anaerobic digestion, which consists of combining hydrogen with CO2.

GRDF supports several projects linked to the development of power-to-gas. One example is the JUPITER1000 PROJECT, located in Fos-sur-Mer in the south-east of France, which is the first project to inject hydrogen and synthetic methane into the natural gas transmission network, the first project to recover CO2 from industrial emissions, and the first project to combine two electrolysis technologies: PEM (membrane) and alkaline. This power-to-gas demonstrator, steered by the GRTgaz project team, enables the production of methane, expected at 25 Nm3/h from CO2 from factories in the Fos-sur-Mer industrial-port area, and hydrogen (1MWe) for injection into the network.