The Atwick gas storage facility has nine man-made salt cavities at a depth of 1.8km underground with total gas storage capacity of around 325 million cubic meters.
According to the British Geological Survey, underground gas storage offers greater and cheaper storage volumes if constructed and monitored with additional safety measures.
The current contract, which includes improving control, compression and metering of these sites, is part of SSE’s plan to increase the life of the facility and to use it for both peak shaving and longer term storage.
Under the deal, Yokogawa will supply its flagship CENTUM VP integrated production control system for controlling the gas compressors and the ProSafe-RS integrated safety instrumented system for ensuring safety at the facility, along with a metering solution.
Yokogawa United Kingdom sales director David Clough said it was the quality of their products and their technical superiority, together with the experience and dedication of their engineers that were recognized by the customer.
"We are committed to achieve the project’s aim, enhancement of the operational life, while maintaining safety," Clough added.
Yokogawa Europe president Herman van den Berg said in Europe and North America, gas is often stored in underground facilities, and many projects for the construction and upgrade of such facilities are in the planning stage, spurred by such developments as the surge in shale gas production.
"Yokogawa is targeting the natural gas industry, and we believe that this project will allow us to gain further expertise in gas storage control and safety applications that we intend to share with the entire Group," Berg added.
