ABSTRACT
To increase the conveyance capacity to Western Singapore and to meet long-term water needs in a more cost-effective manner, four new transmission pipelines consisting of 2 numbers of 2200 mm diameter and 2 numbers of 1200mm diameter water pipes will be needed by 2024 to convey water from a Water Reclamation Plant to existing networks in the western region of Singapore. Out of the several possible routes studied, the most cost-effective and technically feasible route was selected by laying the proposed 1.6km-long pipelines that under crosses a channel via a 6m diameter subsea tunnel. This paper outlines the challenges the team faced throughout the project thus far. It also examines the difficulties such as the construction of a 56m-deep launching shaft near a highly sensitive 700mm diameter Gas Transmission Pipeline (GTP) and at a location with high groundwater;and manpower and supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. © 2023 The Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Given they are two critical infrastructure areas, the security of electricity and gas networks is highly important due to potential multifaceted social and economic impacts. Unexpected errors or sabotage can lead to blackouts, causing a significant loss for the public, businesses, and governments. Climate change and an increasing number of consequent natural disasters (e.g., bushfires and floods) are other emerging network resilience challenges. In this paper, we used network science to examine the topological resilience of national energy networks with two case studies of Australian gas and electricity networks. To measure the fragility and resilience of these energy networks, we assessed various topological features and theories of percolation. We found that both networks follow the degree distribution of power-law and the characteristics of a scale-free network. Then, using these models, we conducted node and edge removal experiments. The analysis identified the most critical nodes that can trigger cascading failure within the network upon a fault. The analysis results can be used by the network operators to improve network resilience through various mitigation strategies implemented on the identified critical nodes.