Fund focuses £500k on leaky gas pipes

A technology-focussed fund has made its first investment in an intelligent gas grid solutions provider. Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund is providing £500,000 for Southampton-based Utonomy to trial an innovative […]

A technology-focussed fund has made its first investment in an intelligent gas grid solutions provider.

Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund is providing £500,000 for Southampton-based Utonomy to trial an innovative way to reduce methane leakage in gas distribution networks.

The Internet of Things solution automatically optimises gas distribution pressures by retrofitting actuators to the network, controlled by intelligent, cloud-based software.

More than 300 billion MWh of the potent greenhouse gas is lost from gas networks around the world each year, costing more than £5 billion.

The volume of gas released is equivalent to 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than four times the total emissions of the UK.

Adam Kingdon, CEO of Utonomy, said: “We are delighted to receive investment through the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund.

“This will enable us to complete the product development, certification and customer trials of our innovative solution for reducing methane emissions.”

The North of England’s gas distributor has launched a new facility to support converting the gas grid to hydrogen.

Latest Podcast