A Gas Pipeline Model to Support Critical European Energy Infrastructure Assessment
Introduction
In the context of European Policy, in December 2005, the Council called upon the Commission to make a proposal to develop a Directive on the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructure (ECI). The original focus on terrorist threats later evolved into an all hazards approach. The severity of consequences and European dimension are to be assessed on the basis of Public, Economic, Environmental and Psychological effects, whilst owners/operators of ECI need to establish a sector specific operator plan, including identification of assets, risk analysis and countermeasures prioritization. The EC is developing cross-cutting criteria to support the process of ECI identification on the basis of severity of consequences of disruption or destruction of the infrastructure. The usefulness of these criteria will then need to be assessed in specific instances. For the Energy Sector an improved understanding of the criticality of gas supply routes and infrastructure is desirable and it is anticipated that a model of the transnational gas pipeline network would assist in the process of assessing the usefulness of the cross-cutting criteria applied to this sector.
Building on previous work undertaken within the SARES Action, a methodology is being developed using detailed gas pipeline network modeling software to help identify elements of a network that may be considered to be critical. Gas has a key role in the energy supply future of the EC, with growth anticipated to rise from currently one fifth, to one third of total energy supply within the next 25 years, most of this increase for electricity generation. Up to 66% of gas may be derived from imports, these being essentially supplied through pipelines traversing the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States, although an increasing quantity will be provided by sea transportation of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas). Market forces in general dictate what is commercially acceptable in terms of hardware infrastructure investment for meeting demands, but with an aging pipeline population the security and reliability of pipeline transmission gas supplies is seen as a key issue for Europe.
Pipeline models
Following a review of commercially available software for pipeline modeling a package from Advantica called SynerGee was purchased for evaluation. This can utilize underlying GIS pipeline route maps and hydraulically model all the key components of a pipeline system, from valves and regulators to storage fields and compressor stations. Some data previously collected for developing an Excel spreadsheet model GENERCIS, has been used to populate the model, but data from other sources such as Platts has provided the basic GIS background pipeline layout.
Current status
The Czech Republic was initially selected for compiling a demonstrator of the functionality of the approach. In addition, connecting networks and infrastructure were then introduced for the adjacent countries of Slovakia and Hungary. For all three countries the components of the Trans-National transmission pipeline network and the National high pressure network have been introduced into the model, but only generic details of items such as compressor stations and storage fields have been used. Following analysis of the model and assessment of its potential usefulness it was then demonstrated to the countries gas network operators in a workshop. The operators were generally supportive of the approach adopted and as a result more accurate details of the components may be made available through their subsequent completion of a questionnaire.
Conclusion
The development of a three-country gas network model using open-source data has been successfully demonstrated. The usefulness of the model in assessing cross-cutting criteria for the proposed European Directive on critical infrastructure may now be progressed.
PRIDE Russell;
2008-07-21
OPOCE
JRC43013
1018-5593,
EUR 23434 EN,
Additional supporting files
| File name | Description | File type | |
|---|
