Fiber optic installed in gas pipeline

Copyright 2002 King Communications Group
Energy Daily...05/20/2002
From LexisNexis
from CED Broadband Direct, May 20, 2002

Calling it a major step toward expanding broadband service, a Sempra Energy subsidiary announced last week it has successfully installed a fiber optic cable conduit for commercial use through a Fort Worth, Texas, natural gas pipeline while it was in operation.

Sempra Fiber Links said the test -- on a pipeline operated by Oncor, the gas and electric delivery of arm of Dallas-based energy giant TXU Corp. -- was important because it proved a method of laying fiber through an urban area without the cost and disruption of street trenching.

For that reason, Sempra Fiber said its new technology, known as "fiber-in-gas," will help solve the so-called "last mile problem,"- a term used to describe the cost and difficulty of linking up broadband customers in congested areas.

Sempra Fiber- spun off from its San Diego-based parent last summer- says its new process uses patent-pending fittings to insert and extract conduit through pipelines that are often linked directly to customer-filled buildings.

In Fort Worth, Sempra and Oncor officials say they installed one mile of conduit through a downtown TXU pipeline network last week while gas company executives, government officials and staff from utility commissions watched.

Sempra Fiber officials say they used the same system to successfully install cable last October into a North Carolina pipeline owned by Frontier Energy, another Sempra subsidiary. That was the first time, they say, that conduit has been run through an operating pipeline.
And last week's work was another step forward, say Sempra officials, because it involved another company's pipeline and outside observers, including the Gas Technology Institute, an industry-funded research group.

And while Frontier Energy is still considering whether to proceed with commercial use of its new cable conduit, Sempra officials say Oncor plans to link its new line with new customers and is considering laying more.

"This pilot demonstrates Oncor's progressive thinking and commitment to providing an innovative technology with potential to help its business in a high-tech economy," said Michael Clover, president of Sempra Fiber Links in a statement.

"Natural gas distribution lines are largely untapped assets."