An increasing number of households are giving up on natural gas. The demand to remove gas connections of houses is expected to increase significantly from the current 12,000 per year to 100,000 in 2033 at Liander. This poses a risk of capacity shortage for our contractors who carry out these tasks on our behalf.
In the current process of removing gas connections of houses, the most time-consuming part is locating the connection line, taking approximately 2 hours out of the standard 4-hour task time. This is because drawings are sometimes absent or no longer accurate. This also complicates predicting task duration and, consequently, planning.
Therefore, we are looking for an easy-to-use tool that allows the technician to independently determine the trench to dig for gas line removal, without having to open up the ground in advance to locate the gas line.
Do you have a possible (partial) solution for this? Please let us know!
About us
Alliander is a group of various active companies. Liander is a network operator and part of Alliander. It is responsible for the gas and electricity network for a large part of the Netherlands (40,000 km of gas network across 5 provinces) and manages energy distribution across all networks daily. Around 3 million homes and businesses in the Netherlands are heated and illuminated by Liander's skilled professionals.
Our challenge
The Netherlands has an ambitious goal to become climate-neutral in 2050. One of the crucial steps to achieve this is to reduce dependence on natural gas for heating and cooking. Natural gas contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and is a finite resource. Therefore, the Dutch government aims for all households and businesses to be off natural gas by 2050.
When someone wants to transition from natural gas to sustainable alternatives for heating and cooking, they request disconnection from the gas network from the network operator. The gas meter and connection line are then removed by the network operator. Gas line removal is essential for safety and the environment. The State Supervision of Mines (SODM) has set a maximum 1-year deadline for the network operator to remove the line. This is why the lines cannot be left in place for potential future use, such as for hydrogen.
Out of the total time (4 hours) for removing the gas line, locating the connection line itself is currently the most significant (average 2 hours) and variable part.
This is due to the absence, ageing, or inaccuracy of drawings, or changes in the situation that appeared over the years. Additionally, different types of soil (clay, peat, etc.) and other cables and lines (electricity, water, fiber optic) pose various challenges in gas connection removal. This makes locating the lines difficult and time-consuming.
The gas lines themselves and their positions can also vary. There are plastic (PE and PVC), metal, and combination pipelines with an outer diameter of 15-50mm, generally lying at depths of 0.80-1.6m.
We are looking for solutions that can achieve significant time savings in locating the connection line and/or the connection point of the connection line to the main line. This way, the technician can start digging and removing as quickly as possible. How can we ensure that a technician knows where to dig as quickly and easily as possible?
What has already been tried?
We hebben in eerdere stadia al verschillende oplossingsrichtingen onderzocht:
- Ground penetrating radar (GPR)
- Inserting a probe through the main valve (with a transmitter and receiver)
- Gas vibrations
- Inserting a robot in the gas line
- Frequency signal on metal pipe
However, none of these solutions appear to be sufficiently effective. The explored solution directions and their barriers are further explained in the background information. We are open to improving the above techniques or proposing a completely new technique/method.
What are we looking for?
According to us, there are two possible approaches:
- Techniques that a technician can use during a task to determine the position.
- Techniques that provide the location information in advance with certainty for the technician.
Depending on this, the final solution will be adopted by Alliander (with prior determination) or by the contractors working on behalf of Alliander (with on-site determination).
We challenge you to bring your fresh perspective, thinking and expertise to this!
A good solution for this challenge meets several criteria:
- We are looking for innovations that can produce a proof of concept in 2024.
- The line must be located in a way that is safe and complies with Gas Safety Instructions (VIAG).
- The technique should preferably be applicable by a person without VIAG instructions. Tasks that can be performed without instructions are defined in the VIAG as Other Activities (VIAG Annex 5). Alternatively, it should be clearly stated whether and which VIAG instructions are necessary for the technician to apply the technique.
- The solution must be easily transportable if necessary, considering the size of a technician's van.
- The solution must be scalable (100,000+ removals per year).
- The solution must result in significant time savings.
- The solution must be usable in standard Dutch weather conditions and soil types (including groundwater).
We are happy to facilitate the development of an adequate solution and business case. This makes it interesting for you to bring the solution to the market, as well as for network operators and contractors to adopt and implement the solution.
What are we not looking for?
We are not looking for solutions:
- That require opening the ground to determine/register the location of the lines (once the location is known, the ground is opened in the right place to remove the line).
- That would only be applicable for a (distant) future scenario rather than the current issue.
Do you have ideas that can further assist Alliander and the energy transition but fall outside the scope of this challenge? Check out our website! For example, for an overview of all our collaborations or our Corporate Venture department.
Got any questions?
Sign up for the online Q&A session!
Do you have questions or would you like to meet the 'people behind this challenge'? Then sign up for the online Q&A session (Teams) op 4 March van 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM and ask all your questions!
Participation is not mandatory.
What we offer
This challenge is an opportunity to contribute to one of the biggest societal challenges of our time: the energy transition. Your solution can play a role in this.
We offer you:
- Chance of an innovation budget of up to €30.000-€50.000,- depending on the type of solution, to realize and test a pilot/proof of concept.
- Chance of a follow-up assignment, scaling, or sustainable collaboration with a successful pilot.
- Our technical specialists and/or consultants can serve as sparring partners. They can provide you with further clarification on the needs and challenges of the network operator, helping you refine your solution.
If the solution requires a significant investment from Liander, there will be a European tender for later phases/follow-up assignments.
Criteria for assessment
- Time savings: how much less time does it take to locate the connection line?
- Feasibility
- Costs
- User-friendliness (Who can/use it, does the technician need extensive training/certification? How big and agile is it, does it fit in a technician's van? How much time does a technician need to learn to use it?)
- Quality of the solution/Expertise of the team
- Scalability
- Development phase
- Safety
We collaborate with an external party responsible for evaluating the submitted proposals. This external party will sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to ensure the confidentiality of the submissions.
Participation conditions
- You are registered with the Chamber of Commerce (or a foreign equivalent).
- The solution complies with all applicable laws and regulations.
- Demonstration of a working prototype/product/service.
- Capable of starting a pilot project within 3-9 months.
Your submission (max 6 pages/18 slides)
- Description of the solution:
Provide a concrete description of your solution. - Description of the pilot:
Briefly describe what is needed to set up a pilot and what you need from us. Address the support needs, required access/materials/data, and the financial proposal for the pilot and, if successful, for the long term. - Team description:
Provide a brief description of the company and team that will implement the pilot. The submission may be in a free form (presentation/slide deck, letter), but it must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4) (max. 30MB). Videos, sample websites, etc., can be included as links.
Submissions in English are allowed.
Timeline
- Monday, February 12: Launch of the challenge
- Monday, March 4, 15.00 - 16.00: Online Q&A session (not mandatory) - sign up
- Friday, March 29, 17.00 (CET, GMT +1): Deadline for the challenge
- No later than Friday, April 5: Announcement of the first selection
- 12 or 15 April: Live presentations/discussions with the selected parties
- April/May: Collaboration shaping with the selected party
- Q3 2024: Start of pilot/test prototype
Background information
Current procedure
In preparation for a job, drawings, soil data, and KLIC data are requested. However, these are not always present or accurate.
Holes are dug at the facade and the main line. Subsequently, the connection line is removed up to the main line, and the entire gas meter setup inside the house is removed.
Case of a recent job
Description of the job type: Disconnecting gas for the customer, removing gas meter and gas lines.
Team: Technician with VIAG instruction & excavator.
On-site situation: Average Dutch residential area from the 80s. Street with similar houses, all built in the same year.
Upon arrival, the technician tries to match the drawings with reality. After a brief inspection in the crawl space of the house, the technician immediately notices that the connection line leaves the house at a different point than indicated on the drawing. This immediately indicates that the drawing is incorrect
The technician decides to first locate the connection point on the main line, perhaps providing a better indication of how the connection line from the house to the main line runs. The first hole is dug according to the drawing. Unfortunately, when opening the sidewalk, they encounter Telecom fiber optic cables. This means that further digging must be done extremely carefully, under the fiber optic cables, without touching them, to prevent damage. After an hour, a hole of 1.5 meters deep - under the fiber optic cables - is dug, and the main line is found. The technician has doubted several times whether to continue digging: the main line shouldn't be that deep, are we digging correctly? Ultimately, the main line is found at the location indicated on the drawing but much deeper than expected. Unfortunately, they do not find the connection to the house's line, so the hole must be filled after a long digging process. A new hole is dug at a randomly chosen point, without knowing in advance if it will be the right place to dig. Again, the new hole must be dug under the delicate fiber optic cables.
Ultimately, the connection to the main line is found 1 meter from the location indicated on the drawing. It took 4 hours to find the right place. For the team, it was frustrating not to know if the effort would lead to finding the line. When do you decide that the line can no longer be at this location, or when do you dig deeper
It would be very helpful to know before starting the digging work whether you are digging in the right place.
Previously explored solutions
Within Alliander, various solutions have been explored for locating gas lines without the need to open the ground. However, all these solutions so far are not applicable in all situations. Especially in the most complex situations, where a tool for locating would bring the most benefit, there is no adequate solution.
- Groundrader
By sending signals into the ground and receiving them again, the device can determine where certain materials are in the ground. This is displayed on a tablet, and from this, it can be deduced where cables and pipes are located.- Barriers:
- Difficult to read. Analyzing data takes a lot of time and requires expertise (which a technician does not have).
- Does not distinguish between what is in the ground (different types of infrastructure).
- Does not work in moist (clay) soil.
- Barriers:
- Gas vibrations
Research was conducted on ultrasonic signals via gas molecules. This ultrasonic signal causes gas molecules to vibrate, which could be traced from the outside. This method was abandoned within Alliander because this measurement was very sensitive to sounds and required a lot of precision. The starting point is often difficult to find, and bends are also difficult to follow. Generally, this method has a too large margin of error, and the signal is easily disturbed by other things in the ground. - Robot
Introducing a robot into the gas lines was considered. Equipped with sensors and a camera, the robot could check where the connections of the connection lines to the main lines are.- Barriers in the further development of such a robot are:
- The size of the gas lines (7 mm-12 mm), which means the robot and sensors would have to be very small.
- The development and acquisition costs of the robot. This would not be cost-effective for individual removals.
- For the robot to be inserted into the main line, the ground must still be opened, and the location of the main line must be known, which is not always the case.
- Barriers in the further development of such a robot are:
- Probe
A probe is placed in the line from the house and emits a signal that can be traced from the outside, above ground, with 10 cm accuracy. There are different variations of the probe.- Barriers
- Does not work at right-angled main valve or right-angled bends.
- Does not work in metal pipes.
- Must be performed under pressure, meaning an expert with an AVP (all-round skilled person) instruction is needed to perform the action
- Good to know: The mentioned probe is the property of Alliander, and the technologies, methods, and/or approaches described and applied for it are protected by intellectual property rights, which belong to Alliander and can be considered as know-how (confidential information). It may not be reproduced, stored in an automated database, or disclosed (in any form) without the permission of Alliander.
- Barriers
- Frequency signal on metal pipe
A frequency can be applied to metal pipes that can be detected from the outside. However, this method only works for metal pipes, while the majority of the gas pipes in our network are made of synthetic material. Good to know: VIAG
For performing work on the gas network, instructions are needed as defined in the VIAG. To perform gas technical work (in a low-pressure network), a technician must have at least an AVP instruction. The instruction structure and the associated actions can be found in 3.6 of the VIAG and Annexes 4 and 5.Questions?
Ask them here or during the online Q&A session.