Mutually trusted organisation
“Our main focal area right now,” Jan continues,
“is energy intelligence, and this is geared to
finding services and solutions for the energy
sector whereby the participants can outsource
their functions to us while focusing on their
core business strategy and strategic decisionmaking
processes. This is quite unique because
we are a mutually trusted organisation and so
we facilitate these processes in which we have
no vested interests. We have developed three
major systems: customer information, energy
data management and energy management.
We are responsible for metering and billing for
around half of the customers in Finland. In fact,
Finland is the only country in Europe where
smart metering and billing runs throughout the
entire value chain. What Empower has done is
to take the smart metering a step further and
to digitalise the whole process. What’s more,
because we use our own software, we can
be much more pro-active in enabling service
solutions for our customers, helping them in
their strategic objectives. It is evident, then,
that software innovation is an important topic
for us.”
All about software
The role that software plays in Empower
is crucial. “Everything’s about software,”
Jan emphasises. “Just take the commercial
processes. They are all tied to real-time and
time-dependent information, and it is the
software innovation that enables the companies
operating in the energy market to gain a
strategic edge. Especially now in the era of an
energy mix that involves not only renewables
and more traditional sources but also sees a
much broader palette of suppliers, from large
utilities to private consumers. So, the need
to get the mix and the supply-demand powermatching
right is key to an efficient and fair
energy market as well as onboarding renewables
to help us lower the carbon footprint. At
Empower we are working on innovative
solutions for these challenges.”
Where disciplines meet
Jan is clear about the added value of an
interdisciplinary approach towards innovation.
“In a Community like ITEA, one of the most
inspiring aspects is the way that projects
involve different disciplines, partners, cultures, ideas and so on. And sharing it all. This gives
us a much better chance of leveraging all the
expertise that is available than if we were
relegated to a kind of lower-league player
confined to a single domain. ITEA has brought
us new insight into the digital opportunities that
come about when domain competencies meet.
And being part of an industry-led collaborative
effort provides very valuable input for us in
trying to gain a better handle on the future for
the good of society.”
