Kuva Systems wins $5M DOE contract for emissions tech
Work continues on advancing the technology needed to monitor for and repair emissions leaks in oil and gas facilities.
Much of that work is supported by the government, which has just awarded a $5 million contract to Kuva Systems under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program. The contract will support Kuva in refining and demonstrating its cutting-edge remote emissions investigation system across 175 oil and gas sites in the U.S.
“Our focus is working with oil and gas companies to become part of their operational workflow,” Stefan Bokaemper, Kuva chief executive officer, told the Reporter-Telegram.
The company currently has a staff of 22 in Midland and is looking to add three more with the funds from the DOE grant. Kuva is primarily looking for installers currently, but Bokaemper said Kuva will increasingly be looking for data experts in the near future.
“This is about, once you have emissions detected, what do you do now?” he said.
Bokaemper described Kuva’s technology as simplifying the mitigation process by providing root causes of emissions directly to field staff instead of just emissions detection.
“The only thing we provide them is what’s wrong and how we think it should be prepared. It helps prioritize repairs,” he said, adding that the root cause could be improper maintenance or installation.
If something goes wrong and product ends up as an emission, that’s usually a sign something was not installed correctly,” he said.
The monitoring is done remotely using cameras similar to optical gas imaging cameras but are stationary and are much lower costs. Monitoring can be done at tank batteries, midstream facilities, gas processing plants, even drill sites and flowback sites.
Kuva also provides emissions accounting and regulatory compliance solutions.
He said the DOE grant will help accelerate adoption of Kuva’s technology, allowing it to be utilized by midsize companies down to mom-and-pop operators.
