SGN awards NIA project to Utonomy

SGN, the gas distribution company that distributes natural and green gas to 5.9 million households in the UK, has awarded a significant new contract to Utonomy.

The NIA (Network Innovation Allowance) project, which has a budget of £840,000, will develop and trial Utonomy’s innovative new pressure control and management system.

The aim of the project is to develop an efficient and reliable pressure control and management system that will give SGN the ability to remotely adjust their governor stations. This will enable the company to continually adjust the pressure in the network according to demand, not only reducing environmental impacts but also reducing the number of call-outs and regular planned visits to carry out seasonal adjustments of the governors. This will lower operating costs and free up skilled technicians for other essential tasks.

The project is expected to last two years and will involve live field trials on a part of SGN’s network.

Speaking about the contract, Utonomy CEO Adam Kingdon said: “We are delighted to be working with SGN. This will enable us to complete the product development of our innovative pressure management system and to test it on a live gas network. We are very pleased to get the chance to work with the highly experienced team at SGN to develop our technology further.”

SGN Innovation Project Manager Mark Skerritt said: “We are delighted to announce our collaboration with Utonomy on this exciting project. The aim of the project is to provide the UK gas network with a new and unique pressure control and management system that is not only more efficient than existing systems but also enables network operators to confidently exercise ‘real time’ control over their governor assets.”