At Itron, we’re dedicated to ensuring the safe, reliable and resourceful delivery of natural gas to end customers. That’s why we are thrilled to attend the American Gas Association's Annual Operations Conference! Held from May 1 – May 4 in Grapevine, TX, the natural gas industry's premier event brings together experts from various fields to share technical knowledge, ideas and practices that promote the safe, reliable and cost-effective delivery of natural gas to end-users.  

With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Itron is committed to providing innovative solutions that help natural gas utilities and transmission companies manage their operations more efficiently and effectively. In booth #1001, Itron will showcase some of our latest technologies and solutions designed to help utilities and transmission companies optimize their natural gas delivery systems:  

Innovations that Put Safety First 
When it comes to delivering natural gas, safety is paramount and advances in technology are giving utilities more visibility into their systems to prevent incidents before they happen. Our Intelis^TM Gas Meter is changing the value proposition for gas customers from metering and automation to one that extends intelligence to the edge of the network – evolving the gas distribution network from a one-way gas delivery mechanism to an interactive energy network that can deliver gas more safely and efficiently. Intelis has been thoughtfully developed to enhance safety for utility personnel, end customers and the community at large by enabling autonomous safety shutoff at all service points. The meter features a built-in high flow alarm and a temperature sensor that identify potentially dangerous conditions such as open fuel lines or fires – automatically triggering shutoff. Air detection identifies meter removal, with the option to shutoff gas flow, while also sending an alarm to utility personnel, helping prevent incidents before they arise. 

Detecting Losses and Protecting Revenue  
Through differential comparative analysis, utility personnel can detect losses, including leaks and theft. Analytics gathered across the system correlate events in a logical way so that specific, detectable patterns of consumption and behavior point out suspicious or inappropriate usage. Itron solutions enable gas utilities to combat energy diversion and loss – including theft, or meter tampering, identify unsafe conditions and reduce safety issues as well as greatly increase accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness of the revenue assurance process. 

Transforming Meter Systems with Scalable Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) 
With intelligent connectivity at the edge, utilities can receive real-time data on their gas distribution networks, allowing them to quickly identify and address any issues that may arise. Our AMI solutions provide edge analytics, peer-to-peer device communications and decision making at every point of our customers’ distribution networks and meter systems. They also provide access to granular smart metering system data on a unified platform to drive better informed decisions, quicker response and more efficient operations with the opportunity to layer on additional applications over time. For utilities that provide utility service to small- to medium-sized communities, AMI deployment doesn’t have to be a multi-year, functionally overwhelming and organizationally staggering experience. To meet the unique needs of small- to medium-sized utilities, Itron offers AMI Essentials, a standard bundled AMI solution, which is tailored to provide a fully integrated end-to-end hosted AMI solution. 

A Simple Approach to Network Connectivity

Given the diversity of requirements utilities need to support their initiatives, investing in a single network technology is no longer sufficient. Our strategy to address this is simple: we apply intelligent connectivity to unlock the potential of the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Rather than a one-size-fits-all network approach, we use our flexible platform to match the right communications technology, such as RF Mesh and Cellular to optimize performance, security and cost – supporting both mains powered and battery-powered use cases for maximized performance and longevity. We are working with cellular partners like Verizon to offer secure and reliable connectivity for our gas solutions; collaborating to ensure we can maximize performance while maintaining the battery longevity with our 500G cellular series. We have already contracted with several gas utilities to augment existing AMI networks, target high value C&I accounts, or support a full cellular deployment. With the performance and coveage that we are seeing through our partnership, we are expecting rapid adoption of our cellular technology to address the varied use cases for our gas utilities

To serve the needs of utilities of any size, we’re supporting the collaboration between independent utilities to share the same network canopy. Rather than building out separate, single-purpose networks for electric, gas and water AMI, utilities like ComEd, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas are sharing access to multi-purpose IIoT networks to extend the benefits of AMI to more communities.

As a company that is committed to helping utilities and transmission companies operate more efficiently and effectively, Itron is excited to be a part of this year’s American Gas Association’s Annual Operations Conference. Connect with Itron in booth #1001 to learn more about modern gas solutions for a changing world.