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Gas grid safeguarded

Geutebrück secures one of the largest gas pipelines.

With over 15 000 kilometres of pipeline in the Netherlands and northern Germany, dozens of installations and approximately 1300 gas receiving stations, Gasunie operates one of the largest high pressure, gas pipeline grids in Europe. Its annual gas throughput totals approximately 125 billion cubic metres and its network forms the core of what is called the northwest European gas roundabout.

Gasunie operates a rolling programme of infrastructure expansion and modernisation, which naturally applies to its security systems too. Video surveillance has been playing an increasingly important part in protecting its most significant sites in recent decades, particularly because of its role in alarm verification. Gasunie is a long-term user of Geutebrück digital video products having always had Geutebrück recording hardware and software at the heart of its CCTV system.

Gasunie’s sites vary in function and size. Some are very small, remote and rarely visited. Others occupy several hectares and are routinely staffed by dozens of Gasunie employees as well as external contractors. Since 1988, the company’s strategy has been to install technical security systems and centralise the site security. Depending on the site, the security infrastructure ranges from simple fencing to sophisticated fence systems with perimeter detection systems and CCTV. “The fundamental requirement at every location is that unauthorised intruders are always identified at the perimeter,” explains Reiner Woldring, Gasunie’s corporate security advisor.

“Where necessary there are two high fences with alarm systems on the outer fence,” elaborates Herman von Hierden, a member of Gasunie’s electrotechnics, instrumentation and process control department. “That way unauthorised intrusion can be detected even earlier.”

Security processes such as controlling the access of authorised staff and the verification and tracking of alarm reports following the detection of an intrusion event are all coordinated from the 24-hour Groningen control centre. CCTV systems operate at 25 sites.

“We need the camera pictures for verifying the alarm reports which may need to be followed up by the police or another special guarding service,” reports Woldring. “We do not do a full preventative evaluation of the images. We no longer have guards with dogs on site who could take a look when a detection report comes in. Instead we rely on camera surveillance. For this we need good quality cameras, reliable transmission and storage of camera pictures as well as user-friendly functions for calling up the pictures in the alarm centre.”

Opting for IP

At Gasunie, the complete security system for all sites is now IP-based. “Even the old analogue camera system has been modernised,” continues Van Hierden, “We now have the same standard across the whole country on all sites. There used to be sites with 30 to 40 analogue cameras which still could not provide any usable quality pictures. So even though the detection was very reliable, it was not always easy to verify the detected events. Now we work with a lot fewer cameras per site, and most of them can be remote controlled from the centre.” Control centre staff now call up camera images in real-time and can immediately replay the recorded footage whenever there is an alarm.

Local system integrators Alphatron and Strukton Systems have been responsible for upgrading the cameras and remain responsible for the maintenance of the alarm centre systems. They replaced the old X.25 data network with a broadband Ethernet connection and the old Pegasus transmission system with a modern GeViScope platform to which all cameras are connected.

At remote sites, nocturnal camera surveillance is made possible by automatically controlled lighting. Data connectivity at remote sites has always been a challenge. “The limited bandwidth available between head office and some of Gasunie’s remoter gas pumping locations generate perfect environments for Geutebrück equipment to demonstrate its efficient bandwidth management,” says Koen Pelle, Geutebrück country manager for the Netherlands.

Management system

GeViScope video platforms are fully integrated into the Gasunie security management system which it developed itself. Multi-system integration is vital, for instance to ensure that the camera system can be linked to the access control systems – so staff in the control centre can know at any given moment how many and which people are present at which site.

“All site visitors have to present their passes on arrival,” explains Van Hierden. “This goes for people from third-party companies as well as our own staff. Anyone who has not obtained a visitor’s permit in advance cannot enter the site. At some locations we retain remote control over access at the alarm centre. Then the camera system is vital.

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