Oulun Energia

Once by Pinja system perfectly meets the needs of Oulun Energia facilitating the data management of all inbound and outbound material flows.

Once by Pinja automates the entire supply chain

Oulun Energia produces electricity and district heating at two power plants and a solar energy plant and at their bio power plant. As fuel, the power plants use wood and peat, while the waste-to-energy power plant produces energy from source separated municipal and industrial waste. Smooth receipt of fuels and waste keeps the wheels turning in the vigorously growing region.

Project in brief

Versatile automation

Once has helped to automate fuel and material logistics and the reporting and invoicing processes of the power plants and the waste-to-energy plant.

Shared data

The entire supply chain utilizes shared data stored in the common system.

Since 1989

The close cooperation with Oulun Energia has helped to develop the system already since 1989.

There is no means of manually producing all reports in Excel.

Paavo Puolitaival, Oulun Energia, fuel logistics

6 and more Oulun Energia's affiliates and customers use Once

2020 biopower plant introduced

5 power plants use Once

The challenge: How to manage automatically and accurately the quantity and quality of material flows arriving at power plants

Previously, quantity and quality management and reporting of biomass and waste fuelswas difficult. For example, problems emerged when there was too little or too much fuel or waste at the plant in relation to production.

The solution: The Once® by Pinja system facilitates the management of complex logistics and communication

The Once® by Pinja system perfectly meets the needs of Oulun Energia facilitating the data management of all inbound and outbound material flows. Once is used e.g. for managing all inbound and outbound operations, scale functions, laboratory analyses and storage inventory management and to handle the data and agreements related to fuel suppliers.

The Once solution has significantly improved and automated the entire supply chain and the reporting process of Oulun Energia. In addition to improved customer service and practical plant operations, the system helps to conform with legal requirements.

Development hand in hand

Once by Pinja system and its predecessor PAS have been developed together with Oulun Energia already since 1989. Cooperation has been fruitful for both parties. Wishes and suggestions of the energy company have influenced the development of Once, for example, regarding logistics related to unloading of goods.

– We have actively expressed our opinions and what we want from the system. The system supplier has given their proposal and we have then developed it together, explains Paavo Puolitaival, who is responsible for the fuel logistics of the power plants.

– Oulun Energia is the customer who has had the biggest impact on the development of the Once supply chain management system for energy production, says Pinja’s system expert Hannu Lepola thankfully.

Many partners and customers of Oulun Energia also use Once, which is scalable to both large and small operators. In fact, a real Once ecosystem has emerged in the region where shared data is utilized, in addition to the energy company, by the regional waste management company Kiertokaari Oy, biogas plant Gasum Oy, chemical company Taminco Finland Oy, Air Liquide Oy, Turveruukki Oy, Laanilan Voima Oy, as well as various transport companies and laboratories.

The new decade brings a wind of change to the energy production in the region. The older one of the two units utilizing wood and peat will be replaced in the autumn 2020 by the biopower plant, halving the carbon dioxide emissions of the existing plant. Once is closely involved with this change.