CGA is the national voice of Canada’s gas energy delivery industry, bringing members together to advance safe, reliable and affordable energy solutions for Canadians.
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CGA is the national voice of Canada’s gas energy delivery industry, bringing members together to advance safe, reliable and affordable energy solutions for Canadians.
Teledyne Gas and Flame Detection brings together industry leading products from brands such as Gas Measurement Instruments (GMI), Detcon, Simtronics and Oldham to provide our customers with portable, fixed and wireless gas detectors with a proven reputation for quality and reliability. Our dedication to safety, backed by more than 100 years of gas detection experience, has made us a global leader in gas and flame detection systems.
Teledyne GMI is a world leader in innovative high-quality portable products serving the natural gas industry globally. Every second of every day, our detectors are making workplaces safer around the world.
Where is your company located?
Teledyne Gas Measurement Instruments Ltd
Inchinnan Business Park
Renfrew, Scotland PA4 9RG
How many employees do you have?
Teledyne GMI has 90 employees with the majority at our manufacturing facility in Renfrew, Scotland.
What is the company’s priority over the next five years?
We are committed to continuing our investment into R&D to ensure we are optimizing and utilizing the most up-to-date technology for the most accurate and reliable detection of natural gas. Key areas of focus include instrumentation suitable for the emerging hydrogen economy. We are also developing products with enhanced connectivity allowing bump1, calibration and field data to be fully visualized on the cloud. With our knowledge of the gas distribution market, we are also developing solutions for identified challenges to deliver efficiency savings for utilities globally.
“Natural gas will remain a significant contributor to the energy portfolio and economic growth”.
What opportunities and challenges does your company face?
The emerging hydrogen economy will be a significant opportunity for Teledyne GMI. With many countries developing a road-map approach, hydrogen will initially be blended with natural gas and then potentially used entirely. This will present challenges to the industry which Teledyne GMI is already consulting on and assisting with.
IT security will continue to be a challenge and may drive clients to seek safer and more robust solutions. This could mean “third parties” having less access to utilities’ IT infrastructure requiring other solutions including approved direct to cloud offerings.
In your opinion, what will be the role of natural gas in the next 50 years?
Natural gas will remain a significant contributor to the energy portfolio and economic growth. The natural gas industry will however have to embrace and indeed pioneer the global decarbonization journey which will probably initially involve blending hydrogen, perhaps up to 20 per cent, with natural gas. Consequently, in the mid-21st century, natural gas usage in its current format may be restricted to more remote locations where hydrogen generation and storage could be problematic.
1 The purpose of the bump test is to check for sensor and alarm functionality. Sensors are exposed to a set concentration of gas to ensure alarms are running properly.
You assumed position as Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Members of Public Utility Tribunals (CAMPUT) in 2018. Tell me a bit about your work before CAMPUT.
My entire career has been involved with energy and regulation. I have worked for governments, oil and gas companies, utilities and public interest groups. I’ve really seen the sector from every angle and it is endlessly fascinating.
Cynthia Chaplin is the Executive Director at CAMPUT.
I became the Executive Director of CAMPUT in 2018, but I was not new to CAMPUT. From 2004 to 2014, I was at the Ontario Energy Board as a Member, Vice-Chair, and Interim Chair and CEO. During that time, I served as CAMPUT Chair, so I was very familiar with the work CAMPUT does to promote excellence in regulation. I am excited to support that mission now as Executive Director.
You have an interesting perspective representing provincial and territorial regulators. What is the one thing all regions have in common? And what is the biggest difference?
CAMPUT has a small and diverse membership, but all our members are facing issues around climate change policy, disruption from new technologies and changing customer expectations, as well as concerns about affordability.
What varies among CAMPUT members is how they can respond to these issues. Some members have broad decision-making powers, including rate setting, rules and licensing. Others are limited to making recommendations to government. The membership also varies widely in terms of resources. Some CAMPUT members have hundreds of staff, while others have only a handful. CAMPUT supports its members by sharing information, best practices, and resources.
“We are seeing the potential for new technologies to fundamentally change the structure of the sector.”
The Canadian Gas Association is interested in how you see the natural gas discussion evolving and what is on the horizon for the industry?
The conversation around natural gas is really interesting. Deregulation and increased competition in the sector resulted in an integrated North American market that has served customers well in terms of security and affordability. However, the situation is changing for natural gas. We are assessing the implications of climate change on the future of all fossil fuels.
The natural gas sector has been effective in communicating some of the issues around wide-scale de-carbonization, in terms of cost and reduced diversity. And we see the sector taking the challenge seriously as it seeks to decarbonize its operations through technologies like renewable natural gas.
There are going to be tough issues around our response to the climate challenge and its long-term implications for the natural gas sector. Depending on government policy, regulators may have to wrestle with issues like depreciation and stranded assets in new ways.
“The natural gas sector has been effective in communicating some of the issues around wide-scale decarbonization, in terms of cost and reduces diversity. We see the sector taking the challenge seriously as it seeks to decarbonize its operations through technologies like renewable natural gas.”
As Canada looks to deliver on both affordable energy and environmental objectives, tell me how your members balance this challenging set of public policy priorities in their work.
Affordability and climate change are both front of mind for customers and politicians – and regulators, too.
The time-frame is a challenge – for customers and politicians, affordability is often an immediate concern – they are focused on where prices are right now. Regulators work to protect the interests of both current and future customers. Regulators want to drive efficiency through incentives and rigorous evaluations, while also incenting appropriate investments for the future.
We are seeing upward pressure on electricity rates from replacing aging infrastructure and adding new infrastructure to accommodate new resources. We are also seeing the potential for new technologies to fundamentally change the structure of the sector. Each regulator will address the issues within the context of their jurisdiction. Two regulators, the Alberta Utilities Commission and the Ontario Energy Board, are examining the implications of the changing sector on how utilities should be regulated. These processes can bring forth the best ideas and evidence to inform decision-making.
Energy regulation plays a fundamental but often ‘out of sight’ role in Canada. Do we need to do more to raise the profile of energy regulatory matters and if so, do you have any priority areas of focus?
We often discuss this amongst the membership. Should regulators be more “high profile”?
Regulators don’t want to be household names, but they need to maintain a reputation for thoughtful decision-making, open and transparent processes, and effective stakeholder engagement. Regulators want to be trusted long-term institutions which operate separately from political decision-making.
To achieve that level of trust, regulators work to enhance confidence in the regulatory process and decision-making. CAMPUT and its members are pursuing a number of initiatives, including:
Writing decisions in plain language, discussing decisions in ways that make them more easily understood by a broader audience, and enhancing public engagement with the regulatory process.
Collaborating with academics, thinktanks, and other organizations working on key issues. I’m thinking of Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa, the Energy Regulators’ Dialogue with the Public Policy Forum, the work of QUEST, and others.
Retaining the hallmarks of good regulatory process – openness, transparency, evidence-based decision-making – while exploring new and innovative processes like “sandboxes”.
Tell our readers something about you they may not know – a hobby, upcoming vacation, interest outside of energy regulation?
One of the best things I did last year was join a book club. I’ve always loved to read, but somehow never joined a book club. This month we’re reading The Overstory, by Richard Powers. It is a fascinating story about trees and people. I find myself looking at my backyard maples in a whole new way. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 – and I highly recommend it.
Cynthia Chaplin is Executive Director of CAMPUT, the association of Canada’s provincial, federal, and territorial energy and utility regulators. She has more than 30 years of experience as an energy economist, consultant, and regulator in Canada and the UK. Most recently, Cynthia served as Member, Vice-Chair, and Chair & CEO (interim) of the Ontario Energy Board (2004-2014), where she presided over complex multi-party oral hearings and policy consultations. She has also held senior positions with British Petroleum, Amoco and the United Kingdom’s gas regulator (Ofgas). Cynthia holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Toronto and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
The Natural Gas Innovation Fund (NGIF) was created by the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) to advance technology and innovation in the natural gas industry. Each project supported through NGIF must meet specific criteria, including a particular focus on environmental performance and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Project-based GHG accounting is about quantifying how much a project will reduce emissions within a specific time period. Emissions reductions are calculated on a life-cycle model that takes into consideration emissions associated with the production, transportation, and end-use of products. The process below is used to estimate emissions reductions for NGIF projects and is consistent with the ISO 14064 standard. It can be divided into four parts:
1. Project Definition: The first step is to state the primary product(s) or service(s) provided by the technology (e.g., electricity generation, heating), as well as the functional unit. The functional unit is the emissions reduction intensity associated with the technology, for example, t-CO2e / MWh electricity produced, t-CO2e / GJ RNG produced, t-CO2e / CHP unit installed.
2. Project and Baseline Models: Next is to define the baseline scenario, the GHG sources, sinks, and reservoirs (SSRs), and select the relevant SSRs for quantification. Biogenic SSRs are excluded. The baseline is defined as the scenario that is most likely to occur in the absence of the project.
SSRs are typically related to energy use, materials production, and activities (e.g., venting, fugitives, or biological process such as anaerobic digestion). Examples include: stationary combustion, transportation, materials production, venting.
3. GHG Quantification: In the next step, key project input parameters and assumptions are stated, such as technology or project lifespan, fuel consumption, equipment efficiency, or service produced.
The input parameters are provided on an annual basis and for the capacity of the unit being commercialized. Parameters can be based on engineering calculations, modeling, reference factors, literature values, or data collected by the project proponent.
GHG calculations for each project SSR element and baseline SSR element are calculated using emission factors. The difference between the project and the baseline SSR emissions provides the overall GHG emission reduction potential of the project on an intensity basis.
4. Market Rollout: In the final step, GHG reductions associated with the commercialization and rollout of the technology are established. Based on the sales forecast provided, the overall GHG reduction potential of a project is calculated as:
Total Project GHG reduction = Product GHG Reduction Intensity x Sales Forecast
GHG reduction results for thirteen NGIF projects:
Carbon Capture Storage – 1
Hydrogen – 2
Energy Efficiency – 2
Renewable Natural Gas – 4
Heat and Power Generation – 3
Transportation – 1
The cumulative total GHG reduction to end of 2030 is 3.4 Megatonnes CO2e.
Source: Natural Gas innovation Fund
By: Saad Sarfraz, Manager Energy and Cleantech Analytics
To achieve that level of trust, regulators work to enhance confidence in the regulatory process and decision-making. CAMPUT and its members are pursuing a number of initiatives, including:
