Explosions Set Off Alarm Bells the Importance of Monitoring Gas Networks
News | 3/3/2025
Explosions set off alarm bells: the importance of monitoring gas networks
Recent events in the cities of Palermo, in February 2023, and Catania, in January 2025, reopen the debate on the importance of monitoring gas networks: the age of the infrastructure and the need for digitisation can no longer be ignored.
A recent explosions of two buildings, in Palermo and Catania, in Italy, caused by gas leaks, tragically highlighted the crucial importance of monitoring gas distribution networks to prevent similar accidents. In particular, the Catania episode, the most recent, saw the collapse of a three-storey building and damage to two other structures, with a toll of fourteen injured. These events have once again reopened the debate on the importance of more careful and efficient management of the gas infrastructure. Not only smart metering, therefore, which in the gas sector arrived, at least in Italy, as early as 2008, but also smart grids as the key to a safer and more sustainable world.
Gas distribution networks, in fact, are complex and widespread infrastructures, subject to deterioration over time due to environmental factors and wear and tear. Inadequate maintenance or delays in identifying leaks can lead to serious accidents, such as those already mentioned. In the case of Catania, the explosion was attributed to a gas leak from a ‘medium-pressure pipeline’ that had multiple repairs, indicating unresolved previous interventions.
In order to improve the safety and efficiency of gas distribution networks, the first step should clearly be the massive renovation of old pipelines, whose repeated repairs are no longer able to sustain the performance required to transport gas. Subsequently, the adoption of advanced technologies, such as the smart grid, would allow a further step forward. If, with smart metering, since 2008 in Italy, distributors have had access to detailed, real-time measurement of gas consumption, providing accurate data to both suppliers and consumers, today it is certainly possible, as well as necessary, to go one step further. Thanks to smart meters, the optimisation of metering data management is facilitated and the reliability of consumption data is increased, also contributing to the reduction of the greenhouse gas impact, but a further step can be taken thanks to other smart devices, which can detect anomalies in the gas flow, signalling potential leaks before they become dangerous.
Smart grids
Smart grids integrate digital technologies, sensors and software to efficiently monitor and manage energy distribution. In the context of gas, a smart grid can adapt in real time to changes in demand and supply, ensuring safe and reliable distribution. Such grids can quickly identify and isolate damaged sections, minimising the risk of accidents and service interruptions.
The integration of smart devices (smart regulators, sensors, data loggers, ...) within the networks offers numerous advantages
early detection of leaks: the combination of real-time data and advanced algorithms enables the rapid detection of gas leaks, allowing immediate action to be taken;
predictive maintenance: continuous analysis of collected data facilitates the prediction of failures or deterioration, enabling preventive action and reducing the risk of accidents;
operational efficiency: more precise and informed network management reduces waste and optimises resource allocation, improving overall system efficiency.
It therefore seems extremely beneficial to turn towards smarter solutions, which enable secure management and also enable additional business scenarios, thanks to the huge amount of data collected from devices in the field.
The benefits of the smart grid: pressure monitoring with AI
Previously, we talked about a virtuous project in this sector. We have began the management and monitoring of gas networks using artificial intelligence. This project aims to show the applicability of a new management and control system for regulating pressure levels in natural gas distribution networks.
Innovation
How is it possible to enable a system that, through Artificial Intelligence, would become self-regulating? The work of the AI and the devices is based on data collected by specific types of smart devices (mainly data loggers and smart meters) and environmental data (such as temperatures), and is the starting point that paves the way for regulation that takes into account the real needs of the network. Based on expected consumption, then, the AI returns ideal set points for the network pressure regulating stations that allow the network itself not to go into crisis, adapting dynamically to the demand of the moment. Thanks to the smart regulators (devices that automatically manoeuvre the valves within the pressure regulating stations), the network always works at the ideal pressure, avoiding overpressure and the risk of gas leaks, a fundamental achievement if we consider that methane has a greenhouse power 70 times greater than CO2.
In this way, it is possible to cope, at least in part, with the difficulties linked to network losses caused by high gas pressure, in infrastructures that are not yet up to standard and increasingly worn out.
Our project is clearly one of the possible proposals that shows how it is possible to enable virtuous network management through technology. By combining technological and infrastructural resources, it is possible to arrive at elegant, state-of-the-art and, above all, safe solutions for private citizens.
The incidents in Palermo and Catania underline the urgency of modernising the entire gas management chain through the adoption of smart technologies. Implementing smart grid systems dedicated to gas is an essential step to ensure the safety of citizens and prevent future tragedies.
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