• The project, which ran from December 2019 to October 2020, has installed 974 smart meters and which are now serving residential and business customers in the town.
• The smart gas network is a great step forward from the point of view of safety as it means that immediate action can be taken and alerts issued in the case of any emergency, such as a leak or poor combustion of the boiler.
• Javier Contreras, the Nortegas CEO, stressed that “this project highlights the importance of investing in technology that is already at our disposal and which has been shown to be effective”.

Nortegas, the second natural gas distributor in Spain, and the Basque Energy Board have successfully completed the Bidegas project, a comprehensive solution that will improve the safety of the facilities and energy efficient in the town of Ugao-Miraballes (Bizkaia).

The project, which began in December 2019 and ended in October 2020, has installed and commissioned a smart gas network, fitted with the appropriate electronic and telecommunications elements to provide essential information to the distributor and to natural gas customers. The aim is to guarantee safer and more efficient management of the consumption and improve the quality of the supply and the service for the customers.

This smart gas network consists of three essential elements. On the one hand, 974 smart meters have been installed free of charge in homes and small businesses in the town. The meters provide a constant stream of real information, which allows users to be fully aware of how much their installation is using and, therefore, be able to manage it more efficiently. On the other hand, all the town’s residents have been offered the option of carbon monoxide and methane sensors, which detect gas leaks or poor combustion in the boilers, being fitted in their homes. Finally, a mobile application (available both in Android and IOS), the Bidegas APP has been developed, which can be download by all users in Ugao-Miraballes. The app provides a two-way communication channel with Nortegas and allows users to constantly monitor their consumption, have immediate and detailed information on any incident that may occur in their installation or in the gas network, along with additional information and tips.

Nortegas was able to check the performance of a technology during the project. This is a great advance, particularly from the safety point of view, as the combination of its three elements allows immediate action to be taken and alerts issued in the case of any emergency occurring, such as a leak or poor combustion in a boiler.

In this regard, Javier Contreras, the Nortegas CEO, stressed that “this project highlights the importance of investing in technology that is already at our disposal and which has been shown to be effective. The digitalisation of the meters is a step forward in terms of safety and sustainable consumption, two of our main cornerstones, and an aspect further consolidated with the experience of Bidegas”.

In turn, Ekaitz Mentxada, Mayor of Ugao-Miraballes, expressed his satisfaction with the project deployed in the town: “The local council shares with Nortegas and the Basque Energy Board the vision of being committed to the construction of a more sustainable and energetically more efficient future. With the completion of this project, we have taken an important step forward in the joint pursuit of that goal. Ugao has become a trail-blazing municipality in Spain in terms of the installation of smart gas meters. But not only we are more efficient, but also the residents of Ugao are now much more protected and safer, as we have real-time information to act immediately in the case of possible risk situations in the installation. We are therefore taking care of the environment and caring for our residents”.

The General Manager of the Basque Energy Board went on to say that “we have completed a project backing innovation and technologies.  Technologies that allow us to be efficient in energy consumption. In that regard, we can also cite other smart network projects, including smart grids, smart meters, and advanced technologies in transformation centres and electricity substations.  We are working on all of them. Along with Nortegas and Ugao Miravalles, we are marking a key milestone worldwide; Ugao-Miravalles is the first European municipality that is going to have smart gas meters.  We have a smart solution for natural gas consumption, that, incidentally, is a highly important energy source on the step towards an energy model and it is important for its consumption to be as efficient as possible.”