Gasunie's Digital Revolution: Powering Europe's Energy Transition with EcoStruxure AGMS

The Future is Now: Gasunie's Boldest Energy Network Move

For decades, Gasunie has played a central role in Europe’s energy infrastructure, managing one of its largest gas transport networks. But with the energy transition accelerating, their legacy platform, Argos—dating back to the late 1980s—could no longer meet the demands of a more complex, multi-energy future. “We’ll be transporting green gas, hydrogen, heat, and CO2,” says Georg Herder, IT Manager at Gasunie. “The new platform must handle that complexity, while improving automation, usability, and security.”

A Partnership Emerging from Innovation

In order to ensure operational perfection, Gasunie went through a stringent selection process and chose Schneider Electric as its partner. "Schneider had the right expertise and know-how, particularly from power grid systems," Herder explains. The partnership was cemented by frequent face-to-face working in close proximity to each other, enabling a shared sense of ownership to propel the project ahead.

Unveiling EcoStruxure AGMS: A New Era of Control

After three years of development, EcoStruxure Advanced Gas Management System (AGMS) became available in 2018. It integrates control of the entire network and unifies Geographic Information System (GIS) data for everyday insights. The platform's open interface enables seamless connectivity with other systems, enhancing digitalization and cross-functional collaboration across Gasunie.

Transforming Operations: Real Impacts

A Modern, Intuitive Interface

The AGMS interface allows an easy-to-understand, real-time view of the network. Gas flows—natural gas, hydrogen, nitrogen, and green gas—are visible quickly, color-coded. With geographic and technical data as well, it facilitates quicker, more assured shutdown and maintenance decisions.

Facilitating Collaboration

Staff worked in isolation on isolated systems beforehand. AGMS eliminates such gaps and allows engineers, technicians, and planners to collaborate on multi-stage projects, significantly improving coordination.

Enhancing Efficiency with Automation

AGMS streamlines many processes that were previously done manually. In combination with other Gasunie systems, it can automatically retrieve data and execute processes. Its sophisticated analytics will boost proactive, autonomous operation, yielding significant productivity increases.

Proactive Network Management

AGMS can predict network conditions 48 hours ahead of time before processing sensor data and weather patterns. This enables preemptive action in addition to accurate forecasting of gas demand, optimizing utilization of energy-intensive resources like compression and cutting costs.

Smarter Training and Decision Support

A simulation mode prepares users to try out operational decisions in the case of high-end events, such as freezing weather. This prepares dispatchers for low-probability events and decreases training time. Decision-making and planning will be enhanced through realistic simulations in future releases.

Future-Ready with EcoStruxure AGMS

AGMS positions Gasunie to be able to operate safely and efficiently under the growing demands of energy transition. "The work of our employees has become easier, more pleasant, and more rewarding," Herder says. Further automation and AI deployment on the horizon, the platform also supports sustainability goals. Gasunie estimates up to 25 megtonnes of CO₂ reduction within five years based on positive prospects directly connected with AGMS functionalities.

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