Columbia Gas, Bay State Gas Choose Envista Coordination
Columbia Gas of Ohio and Bay State Gas Co. of Westborough, Mass., recently have become subscribers to Envista technology, which will allow the companies to manage infrastructure replacement and coordinate street cuts with municipalities and other utilities working concurrently in the "right of way."
Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of NiSource, Inc., is executing a modernization program for safe delivery of natural gas. Columbia will invest more than $2 billion in the next 25 years replacing 4,000 miles of natural gas infrastructure.
David Roy, Columbia Gas manager, Field Engineering stated, "This software not only gives us capital planning capabilities but enables us to share our plans with other infrastructure players executing renewal programs in the same work zones. Our Ohio customers and commuters will realize the benefits of effective collaboration… from less digging to better scheduling of projects to relieve the impact on traffic and neighborhoods."
Envista Chief Executive Officer Rick Fiery said, "Columbia Gas will be working on this project for over 20 years. The ability to plan today and look far into the future allows them to take advantage of opportunities to work and collaborate with municipalities and other agencies in the same vicinity. With Envista's automatic conflict generation, Columbia Gas will be able to see potential problems with other infrastructure players, and troubleshoot them quickly."
Bay State Gas Co. of Westborough, Mass., also a NiSource Inc. subsidiary, serves nearly 300,000 customers in the state.
According to Keith Dalton, manager, Field Engineering, "Over the last several years, Bay State has become more aggressive in replacement of mains and services," stated Keith Dalton, manager, Field Engineering. "We are looking forward to trying a new approach with a high level of collaboration with municipalities, with the least amount of impact on the local community," he added.
"Working with Bay State Gas is an important milestone for us. It is one of the largest and oldest companies in the business and has long served our communities here in New England. We are confident our technology will empower a new level of productivity and facilitate demanding maintenance goals set by the utility," Fiery stated.