What’s in the Virtual Pipeline?
The beauty of virtual pipelines—routes established to transport natural gas by truck, rail or sea—lies in their flexibility and cost effectiveness. And the economics are constantly ticking over to favour gas over diesel in remote and off-grid applications.
New mine sites, or communities in which existing diesel power-generation plants have lost their spark, are logical environments for the rapid deployment of virtual pipeline solutions. A line of supply can be implemented in as little as six months and not more than 18 months, depending on various factors such as access to a compression plant. Laying an actual pipeline not only costs an average $1 million per kilometre, it also takes much longer.
The virtual pipeline has a number of advantages.
Innovations in compressing or liquefying gas and in the design of tankers to safely transport along roads and railway lines are making it more cost-effective to roll gas into far-flung destinations.
The environmental costs of diesel and coal are also becoming prohibitive in a carbon-conscious world.
Carbon emissions from a gas-fuelled power station can be around 27.5 per cent less than from a diesel-fuelled station, depending on the specific circumstances.
The versatility of gas extends to working in tandem with other energy suppliers: providing back-up (as diesel now does) to renewable sources or working in industrial or other distributed-power applications on the fringes of the grid to run independent gas-fuelled power stations or mini grids.
A fitting twist is that trucks and ships delivering CNG or LNG (compressed or liquefied natural gas) can also be fuelled by gas, making them independent of petrol sources, and also affording cleaner transport in terms of emissions.
Find out more about the Virtual Pipeline in action here.
This animation shows how virtual pipelines can help power remote communities and industries.