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Research Development & Demonstration (RD&D) Annual Report

REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FOR US AND OUR CUSTOMERS.

The RD&D Program seeks to advance and champion technologies that support widespread access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy for all Californians. Read on for access to the annual reports, the latest technological innovations and spotlight projects.

  • 2021 Annual Report

    Our RD&D Program plays a key role in developing and demonstrating transformational products and technologies.

    Download 2021 Report

    2020 Annual Report

    These are key findings from 2020.


     

    Download 2020 Report

    Keep Up with RD&D!

    Follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with the latest innovations and findings.

     

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2021 Annual Report Spotlights

  • Image of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

    Cal State LA Drives Upward Mobility Through Senior-Year Engineering Program

    SoCalGas and Cal State LA’s engineering program work together to help students sharpen their professional skills. The Capstone Senior Design Program presents students with the opportunity to review current real-world engineering challenges. This program helps students become critical thinkers and gain valuable experience that they can carry with them into their careers.

     

 

  • Image of closed-loop pilot system.

    Novel Technology Extracts Hydrogen Blended Into Existing Gas Pipelines On Demand

    Hydrogen is poised to play a key role in the decarbonization of transportation. HyET Hydrogen recently demonstrated a closed-loop pilot system capable of extracting pure streams of hydrogen from blends of methane and hydrogen at the our Engineering Analysis Center in Pico Rivera, California.

     

 

  • Conceptual rendering of a future industrial-scale direct ocean capture system.

    Innovative Technology Captures Carbon Dioxide From Ocean Water

    With support from SoCalGas and the U.S. Department of Energy, Caltech was able to develop a techno-economic analysis which helped identify the key technical goals required to affordably capture carbon from oceanwater.

     

 

  • Project team members testing lab samples

    Utility Consortium Drives Policy Change Through R&D

    With support from SoCalGas, Operations Technology Development (OTD) created new pipeline integrity methodologies that reduce cost, increase reliability, and improve safety. This project is a great example of how collaboration can create solutions benefitting the entire utility industry.

     

 

  • Photo of rupture of Earth's surface and a pickup truck.

    Design Safer, More Reliable Pipelines

    We helped fund the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Fault Displacement Hazard Initiative (FDHI) Project. The project seeks to develop a structured relational fault displacement database that will support creation of new, probabilistic models and, ultimately, a probabilistic fault displacement hazard map of the state of California.

     

 

  • Photo of hydrogen fuel cell drone over a body of water and two ships.

    Hydrogen-Fuel-Cell Drones Enable Long-Range Pipeline Inspection

    We have begun exploring the use of zero-emission, hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered drones with Korean firm Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) and GTI, an R&D organization that develops and demonstrates new energy technologies. Zero-emission drones lay the groundwork for a companywide transition to hydrogen-fuel-cell powered aircraft to improve the efficiency of pipeline inspections.

     

 

  • Photo of project team members from UC Irvine.

    Residential Nanogrids Promise A More Distributed And Equitable Energy Future

    Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) are working with us and two industrial partners—Heila Technologies and InstantOn—to explore ways to achieve zero net energy in providing heat and power to residences.

     

 

  • Image of the project's fuel-flexible flameless appliance.

    Fuel-Flexible, Flameless Appliance Consumes Blends Of Natural Gas And Hydrogen

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory develops cooking appliance that delivers immediate emissions and efficiency benefits while enabling future blends of hydrogen.