Gasum Control Room monitors the energy market around the clock

In the Gasum Control Room, the energy market is monitored 24/7. This real-time monitoring enables careful electricity balance management, electricity price optimization and access to the Fingrid reserve market.

An old red brick building located in the Lutakko district of Jyväskylä, Central Finland, houses the Gasum 24/7 Control Room for the energy market. It is here that Gasum’s energy market service experts monitor the market situation and customer enterprises’ electricity balances around the clock. 

Gasum’s 24/7 Control Room services are provided for around 20 customers including energy companies and major electricity buyers. The service package of each customer is tailored to their needs.

– In practice, our customers have outsourced their market monitoring, electricity buy and sell process optimization as well as risk management to us. Outsourcing these functions is a cost-efficient solution. It also enables the enterprise to focus on its own core business, says Team Manager Jarkko Avikainen. 

Energy price movements anticipated by experts and algorithms

There are seven experts working in the Control Room, holding degrees in energy technology or electrical engineering as well as qualifications in electricity trade and natural gas operations supervision. They are assisted by dozens of data sources, powerful IT systems and algorithms.

The 24/7 Control Room service has been available for almost ten years. The importance of non-stop and real-time monitoring is growing even further now that electricity is generated increasingly with weather-dependent renewable energy. Rapid fluctuations in production will at times cause strong movements in market prices.

– Risks increase in line with increased fluctuation in electricity production volumes. By outsourcing their monitoring, enterprises are able to reduce their price risk significantly and improve their foresight capacity and electricity balance management, Avikainen sums up.

30.1.2020
Tuomas Lehtonen