Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy. Piedmont is an energy services company whose principal business is the distribution of natural gas to over one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation customers in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including customers served by municipalities who are their wholesale customers. They are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including regulated interstate natural gas transportation and storage and regulated intrastate natural gas transportation businesses. In 2013, the company was awarded as a Platinum-level Start! Fit-Friendly Company by the American Heart Association for the fifth consecutive year. The award is the highest level of recognition in AHA's Start! Program and it is bestowed to Piedmont for its high quality working environment and well-being for its staff.
Assessing integrity and maintaining CP on an entire pipeline system can be a challenge under highly varying coating conditions, soil conditions, and CP requirements. Every pipeline operator has numerous projects competing for funding and resources necessary to maintain the entire system. Any remediation upgrades should be geared toward the following goals: Evaluate the general coating condition of the pipelines within a given scope.Assess the overall integrity.Achieve a level of CP that meets industry and regulatory requirements. This paper will discuss results of a challenging CP Remediation project including 175 miles of pipeline aimed at shifting the polarized potentials to a level more negative than -0.850 V CSE along the entire pipeline corridor while assessing integrity to assure the system is fit for service. Various CP Remediation methodologies will be discussed to highlight the importance of a well-rounded approach.
