Community Corner

Cold Spell Prompts Record-Breaking Amount of Natural Gas from New Control Center

BAY CITY NEWS & JANE McINNIS

Bone-chilling temperatures that blasted California in the last week prompted the newly-unveiled PG&E gas control dispatch in San Ramon to provide a record-breaking amount of natural gas on Thursday to homes and businesses throughout its service area, PG&E spokeswoman Brittany Chord said.

The $38 million gas control and dispatch center was unveiled Dec. 6, and
will serve as the main monitoring facility for the utility's gas system and 70,000-square-mile service area, utility officials said.

Utility officials were joined by local elected leaders and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new facility.

[Related: Grand Opening for PG&E Gas Control Center in San Ramon]

The spokeswoman said the new control center enabled the utility to push more than 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas through its system to warm buildings statewide for the most current cold spell.

"This center allows us to take a closer look at our system, monitor it and serve our customers reliably in a way we haven't been able to do before, and [Thursday's] new record proves that," she said.

Employees at the state-of-the-art center use a 90-foot-long video wall and smart boards that allow them to keep an eye on regional data in real time.


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