On Friday 21 October, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union submitted to the Member States a new approach to the detection and repair of methane leaks from gas infrastructure (LDAR), as part of the proposal for an EU Regulation to reduce CH4 emissions from the energy sector.
According to the text put forward by the European Commission in December 2021 (see EUROPE 12854/12), operators will have to submit to the competent authorities “a leak detection and repair programme” within three months from the date of entry into force of the Regulation and carry out a leak detection and repair check of all relevant components under their responsibility within six months after the entry into force of the Regulation (and every three months thereafter).
Operators will also be required to repair or replace all components that emit a certain amount of methane, i.e. 500 parts per million (ppm) or more, no later than five days after the leak is detected.
For components with emissions below 500 ppm, they will have to verify that the magnitude of the leak has not increased by inspecting these components no later than three months after the emissions were detected.
Prague, for its part, proposes a two-pronged approach. Every three months, operators should carry out an inspection focused on detecting and repairing larger, riskier leaks as soon as possible, using detection technologies that allow them to “quickly survey their sites in the most cost-effective way” (e.g. optical gas imaging cameras). The threshold for repair would be set at 17 grams per hour.
Every nine months, operators would be required to conduct a LDAR with a minimum detection limit of 10 ppm or 8.3 milligrams per hour and a leak threshold triggering a repair of 500 ppm or 0.15 grams per hour. “This survey focuses on detecting smaller leaks that must be repaired soon thereafter. It will require surveyors to use sensitive low-range devices (...) such as photoionization detectors (PIDs) and flame ionization detectors (FIDs)”, the Czech document says.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/3ro (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)