News
St1's and SCA's Gothenburg biorefinery launched: cooperation with Nortal enables the management of the renewable biofuels value chain
Nortal Finland, an information technology and strategic digital transformation consulting company, has provided IT solutions and consulting services to energy group St1 to scale its renewable fuels business. This cooperation facilitates the management of St1’s and SCA’s newest refinery investment and the operation of its value chain.
St1 has made substantial investments in renewable energy in line with its strategic objectives. One of the company’s latest investments, the Gothenburg biorefinery, a joint venture between St1 and SCA, located at St1’s Gothenburg refinery area, started operations in April 2024, with a production capacity of 200,000 tons of liquid biofuels per year.
At the Gothenburg biorefinery, various raw materials will be utilized to produce renewable diesel, jet fuel, and bio naphta. To support the refinery’s operations and accommodate the expansion of its renewable energy business, St1 needed modern IT capabilities to oversee the entire value chain of renewable fuels, sustainability criteria, and the plant’s physical mass balance. In collaboration, Nortal Finland and St1 have developed the Samba, Rumba, and Maestro applications tailored to manage the value chain of renewable biofuels.
– Sampsa Halinen, Business Unit Lead, Energy Trade and Logistics, St1 Nordic Oy
The digital solutions we developed in cooperation with Nortal Finland ensure the scalability of our business while meeting the sustainability requirements of renewable fuels.
The developed digital solutions play a crucial role in meeting the sustainability requirements of renewable fuels
Under the EU-level Renewable Energy Directive, stringent sustainability criteria are imposed on biomass used in energy production. This aims to ensure that the growing utilization of bioenergy in the EU contributes significantly to reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels while safeguarding biodiversity.
To manage sustainability criteria, Nortal Finland developed a system named Samba for St1. Together with the Rumba system, designed for physical mass balance management, Samba enables comprehensive management of criteria and enhances transparency throughout the entire value chain. In addition to Samba and Rumba, the operation of the value chain also requires other components and capabilities, which Nortal has developed in collaboration with St1 and its other partner vendors.
The digital solutions developed play a critical role in facilitating the scalability of St1’s business while adhering to sustainability requirements for renewable fuels. With these new solutions, St1 can effectively manage and utilize sustainability and traceability information across all stages of raw material sourcing, processing, and distribution of biofuels. Additionally, the solutions provide visibility into the inventory of biofuel raw materials, enabling optimization in both biofuel production and raw material procurement processes.
– Sampsa Halinen, Business Unit Lead, Energy Trade and Logistics, St1 Nordic Oy
Nortal's previous cooperation with St1, their experience in developing similar sustainability criteria management solutions for the energy sector, combined with their extensive experience in leveraging IT to enhance business and sustainability in the energy sector with the help of IT, were the key factors in our decision to partner with Nortal.
“An essential aspect of the renewable fuels business is the efficient procurement and management of raw materials”, says Erno Runola, Business Area Director of Nortal Finland.
The commencement of operations at St1’s and SCA’s Gothenburg biorefinery in April 2024 has involved preparations that include the introduction of new systems as integral parts of the company’s business processes.
In addition to their collaboration in the renewable biofuel sector, Nortal Finland and St1 have closely worked together in other areas concerning biofuels and IT development. Nortal Finland assisted St1 in the integration process following the acquisition of E.ON Biofor, providing expertise in IT and business process consulting to seamlessly integrate the acquired business into St1’s operations. This collaboration extends to various domains such as modern software development, cloud services, IT modernization of processing environments, and the automation of IT and business processes.
– Erno Runola, Business Area Director of Nortal Finland
We are proud of the biofuel value chain solutions we’ve developed with St1. These solutions provide a sustainable foundation for renewable fuels business by ensuring accurate, efficient, transparent, and traceable management at every level of the value chain.
Get in touch
Let us offer you a new perspective.