The "brains" of the pipeline system opererated by WINGAS TRANSPORT is located in Kassel, near the geographical heart of Germany - our Dispatching Center. From here, cutting edge information technologies and control systems provide complete, around-the-clock monitoring and control of our entire gas pipeline system. The data from the stations required for this is transmitted to our Dispatching Center using the fiber optic cables that are installed along our gas pipelines.
History
At the beginning of the 1960s, the first energy consumers decided to use natural gas. This still small number of German gas pioneers was initially supplied from North German gas fields. Control stations were required to operate the gas fields, and these stations were also used to monitor the downstream gas pipelines and stations.
In the 1970s, there was a real boom in the demand for natural gas. Efficient pipeline systems were constructed throughout Germany and the different operators began linking their pipeline systems. The number of natural gas customers also rose at a dramatic rate. The control room technologies that had been used up until then were unable to cope with the enormous amounts of data. This was the birth of today's dispatching: The control stations were changed into dispatching centers, equipped with professional possibilities for system monitoring and gas flow management.
Complex relationships require discriminating responses: The more the gas pipeline systems were interconnected, the more important the tasks of dispatching became. Hence, there was a shift in emphasis in the 1980s: Contract design and quantity planning developed to become the primary responsibilities of our dispatching centers.
Our dispatching centers also took on new responsibilities in the 1990s. This was triggered by two events: the opening of the borders in the East and WINGAS's partnership with OAO Gazprom of Russia. These events enabled us to expand our long-distance pipeline network at breakneck speed and to connect numerous new grid interconnection points with downstream systems to the WINGAS system.
This rapid expansion presented our dispatching center with a variety of previously unknown challenges. We equipped the center with the latest in information technology and control systems. We took a major step towards professional quantity management and continuous monitoring of our entire system in 1992 by installing fiber optic cables alongside our gas pipelines.
Challenges
Our dispatching center fulfills the following tasks:
- Guaranteeing reliable and individually-tailored supply to all WINGAS transportation customers
- Monitoring and controlling the entire pipeline network
- Technical optimization
- Information and communication
- Defining technical standards and requirements
In future, we expect that a reliable dispatching system will become even more important. The following factors would particularly suggest this:
- Increasing quantities of natural gas being imported and transported while domestic production shows no change
- New requirements from the Single European Market
- More and more gas is transported through third-party networks
- Performance of other service tasks for traders and shippers
But we are growing along with our obligations.
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