Turku Energia uses Tekla Solution for district heating as a SaaS service

Oy Turku Energia, an energy company in Turku, Finland, has purchased a Tekla Solution for the management and maintenance of its district heating network. By this acquisition, Turku Energia strives to concentrate all its district heating network information under a single system. The aim is to increase the efficiency of operations.

The solution is built around the Tekla NIS Basic network information system, which Turku Energia will use to model and document its district heating network. Tekla NIS Basic is a versatile system that is adjustable for the management of both district heating and electricity distribution networks. The solution also includes the Tekla Maintenance application for the maintenance of the district heating network.

Operating Manager Janne Arko from Turku Energia says the company was looking for a system that would allow for organized documentation of maintenance information, generate real-time data on the network's distribution status, and enable setting up a harmonized network model and data transmission for calculation.

- For us one of the key criteria is that all the system features and data can be accessed in the field, so that when an incident occurs, we can quickly and easily locate the nearest closing valves, for example. The system will also enable updating maintenance data in the field.

- We chose Tekla's solution because Tekla is committed to continuous product development and invests in it. They also had impressive customer references.

Instead of a traditional license-based deal, the software was acquired as a service (SaaS, Software as a Service). In the SaaS model, the service provider answers for matters related to the ownership of the software solution, including hardware and maintenance, allowing the customer to focus on utilizing the solution. For Turku Energia, SaaS was an easy choice.

- We chose SaaS so that we could focus our minds on our own work. In this service model, we don't have to purchase the hardware and we don't have to worry about maintenance, backup or version changes. We also get customer support through the SaaS supplier, says Arko.

The SaaS service provider for Tekla's software solutions is Gerako Oy.

- We have supplied Tekla software as a service for several years. Our customers have particularly valued the ease of use at project start-up as well as later on during operation, says Gerako's Managing Director Seppo Järvi.

Tekla's Account Manager Jari Moisio stresses the suitability of SaaS services for companies of various sizes:

- Turku Energia is one of Finland's biggest district heating companies. Getting a large company like this to using the SaaS service is a significant win for us. This shows that SaaS service is scalable for any size of company.