LongPath's Methane Monitoring Technology Gets $162.4 MM DOE Loan Guarantee
LongPath Technologies Inc. has received a $162.4 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for the buildout of a remote methane emissions monitoring network. The DOE said in a media release the network will have sites in every major U.S. oil and gas production region including California, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming.
LongPath aims to deploy its Active Emissions Overwatch System to provide emissions detection, location, and quantification services for tens of thousands of oil and gas sites.
“As governor, we made sure Colorado led the country with the first methane regulations of their kind,” said U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper. “We’re building on that leadership to create real-time methane emissions monitoring for the rest of the country thanks to these Inflation Reduction Act investments and our homegrown innovators like LongPath”.
The Loan Programs Office (LPO) funding will help LongPath expand its methane monitoring network. This network will cover an area of up to 24,000 square miles and is expected to prevent methane emissions equivalent to 1.3 million cars being taken off the road. By allowing subscribers to quickly identify and address methane leaks, this technology will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the DOE said.
The DOE said that last year, the Biden-Harris Administration deployed $350 million in grants under the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The DOE said methane leaks in the oil and gas sector significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. These leaks can be difficult to detect, especially in large production areas, leading to continued emissions, it said. Traditional monitoring methods like flyovers and optical gas imaging cameras have limitations, making it difficult to consistently detect methane leaks, it said. This is particularly problematic because emissions can be intermittent, requiring continuous monitoring for effective detection, according to the DOE.
Compared to traditional methods, LongPath’s technology can identify, locate, and quantify emissions faster and with greater accuracy, the DOE said. This allows operators to address leaks more promptly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 percent, according to the DOE. LongPath's monitoring systems are also cost-effective and easy to install, it said.
“The technology, which was developed with the University of Colorado and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and with support from DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and other DOE grants, uses an eye-safe laser to accurately identify molecules in the air, including greenhouse gases like methane. A single laser can continuously monitor nearly 8 square miles for emissions, providing updates on the full area as often as every two hours. The system can notify operators in the event of a leak (down to .06 kilograms per hour) to facilitate a rapid response, reducing needless emissions”, the DOE said in its media release.
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