COLLINSVILLE, Ill. – Ameren Illinois is using new technology to help better identify natural gas leaks and increase the utility’s response time to them.
The utility is testing out a “gas sniffer” that can detect methane gas in the air, which might be leaking from natural gas lines.
“What this vehicle does, is it’s got equipment inside, and you can actually drive down the street and perform that same leak survey while the vehicle is literally driving up and down the road,” said Eric Kozak, vice president of Natural Gas Operations for Ameren Illinois. “It really is an impressive piece of technology.”
Kozak says the high-tech analyzer uses GPS technology and will able to better identify that the emission is coming from a gas line and not something else. He says it can identify leaks quicker, more precisely, and perhaps easier than humans could do.
“Typically, leaks do develop over time,” said Kozak. “This piece of equipment is up to 1,000 times more sensitive than the current technology we’re using. We’re detecting extremely small leaks before they would ever even remotely have a chance of becoming a problem.”
Kozak says while the unit will be doing work humans do now, it likely wouldn’t mean job losses.
