How we do it

As part of the Victorian Regional Gas Infrastructure Program (Program), the Victorian State Government selected Enwave Australia to design, build and construct natural gas distribution infrastructure to the regional towns of Heathcote, Lakes Entrance, Maldon, Orbost, Terang, Kerang, Nathalia, Robinvale, Marong and Swan Hill.

The Program aims to supply reticulated natural gas to communities across regional and rural Victoria, supporting new business opportunities and investment in these communities.

Operating as Enwave Victorian Networks (EVN), knowledge and expertise is leveraged from across the Enwave Australia business to supply reticulated natural gas to approximately 12,500 homes and businesses across rural Victoria.

Today, EVN is supplying natural gas to the towns of

Heathcote
Maldon
Terang
Kerang
Nathalia
Robinvale
Marong
Swan Hill

EVN provides reticulated natural gas via the use of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) “Virtual Pipeline” solution.

EVN’s “Virtual Pipeline”

Where distance and demand do not justify an investment in a traditional gas pipeline, EVN’s Virtual Pipeline offers an attractive alternative for gas distribution to end users, large commercial and industrial energy consumers.

Key Components

Gas is supplied from a high pressure Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline to a Compression Station (Mother Station) where it is further compressed and held in storage.
Upon demand it is transferred into transportable high-pressure cylinders.
Delivered to a Receiving Station (Daughter Station) situated on the network at each town.
Natural gas is then supplied on demand into the network.
The network then distributes natural gas and operates as per other conventional networks in Victoria.
In its simplest explanation, the Virtual Pipeline (trucks) replace transmission pipelines.

The Virtual Pipeline solution consists of four interdependent systems: a Compression Station where gas is compressed and transport modules are filled, a Transportation system and Receiving Stations where the transported gas is delivered in volumes based on town consumption demand.

In turn, gas is then distributed within each town via a conventional gas distribution network.

Modularity

The system is conceived based on this concept, resulting in the following advantages:

Maximization of transported gas. The scalability and custom engineered solutions maximizes the amount of transported gas and reduces the operating cost per cubic meter of natural gas delivered.
Scalability. Working with multiple size storage containers allows the system to grow at the pace of demand. Changes in consumption can be matched with additional stationary and transportable CNG.
Transportability. The extensive design and engineering of the transport modules enables safe and efficient transportation to where ever natural gas demand is.
Balance between operating and investment costs. Thanks to both its modularity and scalability, this system allows for optimal sizing to strike a perfect balance between operating and investment costs.

Infrastructure

The four main components of EVN’s Victorian Regional Energy Virtual Pipeline solution are:

Compression Stations (Mother Stations) - Compression and dispensing of CNG into bulk storage. Development of two fully redundant Mother Stations and a capacity upgrade for a third smaller station in Derrimut are to be developed during the project. The locations of the two compression stations will be confirmed shortly.
CNG Transport - Prime movers in B-double configuration, towing 1 x 20ft and 1 x 40ft CNG transport modules from Mother Stations to Receiving/Daughter Stations.
Receiving Stations (Daughter Stations) - Receives CNG from CNG transport and stores it on-site at each of town. Reduces pressure down for supply into a conventional gas network system to the adjacent town.
Town Distribution Networks - From the outlet of each Receiving Station, EVN provides a conventional Gas Distribution Network within each of the towns, enabling consumers to access reticulated natural gas.