This pulp mill and biomass power plant invites data into its circular economy

Posted: August 20, 2026

In the north of the Iberian Peninsula, frequent and severe droughts have made water, once abundant, a much scarcer resource. And for Ence, Europe’s largest producer of eucalyptus pulp products, this is an operational liability. A shortage of water doesn’t just stress the system. It shuts it down. In 2023, this lack of water cost them 15 days of downtime. Not a slow-down. Not a near-miss. Fifteen lost days of production.

In addition to its pulp mills, Ence manages 65,000 hectares of forest and operates eight biomass power plants. With increasing droughts and the growing need for flexible biomass generation, Ence had to find a way to operate more efficiently and push its sustainability ambitions further.

Water scarcity and energy volatility put operations under pressure

For Ence, sustainability is a strategic priority, with the three prongs of its business making up its own circular economy: managing 65,000 hectares of forest, making pulp products, then turning agricultural and forestry waste into renewable energy. In addition to its two pulp mills, the company operates eight biomass power plants. Ence is Spain’s leading biomass power operator.

This circularity is what makes Ence remarkable, but it also means pressure in one place ripples everywhere. Water scarcity directly impacts mill operations and forest health and biomass power generation. And as pioneers in publishing all environmental data online, Ence operates with full public visibility and a 93/100 ESG score to protect.

The question Ence had to answer: What do you do when the pressure is coming from every direction at once?  

Making use of what already exists: Getting more value out of the data

Ence has been using AVEVA™ PI System™ since 2015. The data infrastructure was already in place. What changed was how Ence chose to use it. Iago Rodrigues Fernandez, Digitization Technician for Ence, said, “We realized that at our fingertips we had great potential that was yet to be fully exploited.”   

The Ence team began to utilize tools and capabilities of AVEVA PI System that they hadn’t fully explored, such as AVEVA™ PI Server’s event frames, notifications, and asset framework. They developed new tools built on AVEVA solutions, and as they scaled pilot programs across the three sectors of its business, they adopted even more AVEVA solutions, including CONNECT and EcoStruxure™ APC.

It wasn’t about producing more data but getting more value out of the data they had.

“We realized that at our fingertips we had great potential that was yet to be fully exploited.”

— Iago Rodrigues Fernandez, Digitization Technician for Ence

Three problems, one platform: How small wins unlock big value  

So Ence began to put its data platform to work. And with each small win, the team unlocked new value and new capabilities from existing tools.

Control loop monitoring

Ence combined the asset framework and event frame features of AVEVA PI Server with AVEVA™ PI Vision™ to develop its own control loop monitoring and diagnostic solution. With a general overview of all the control loops in its mills, Ence can detect issues early, deploy preventative maintenance, and avoid unplanned downtime, as well as improve overall process efficiency.

Result: 15% reduction in emissions, 1,500 MWh electricity saved per year in each pulp mill

Water intelligence

To achieve its goals, Ence needed accurate control of its water consumption across pulp mill operations. Using AVEVA PI System’s asset framework to collect and contextualize data from its facilities, Ence uses CONNECT to track water consumption and process parameters in real time, down to each section of the mill. “At the slightest deviation,” Fernandez says, “we are able to take action quickly.”

Ence also uses this data to feed deep learning algorithms to better plan and manage its water consumption and predict the flow of the river that feeds its pulp mill facility. These algorithms integrate flow meter data and historical rainfall data, as well as data from weather stations. With AVEVA PI Vision, the team can visualize these river flow predictions and plan accordingly.

Result: Zero days of summer shutdown in 2024 vs. 15 days lost in 2023

“At the slightest deviation, we are able to take action quickly.”

— Iago Rodrigues Fernandez, Digitization Technician for Ence

Biomass plant optimization

As wind and solar have penetrated deeper into Spain’s energy mix, the intermittent nature of these power sources also introduces new instability into the power grid. And while Ence’s biomass power plants help mitigate this instability with alternative power to balance supply and demand, it also means continuous load changes, which impact the efficiency of the generation process.

Using multivariable models to predict combustion behavior at its plants, Ence can anticipate and adjust setpoints before destabilization occurs. This advanced process control allows Ence to automate its biomass power plant control loops and ensure optimal performance.  

Result: €150,000 saved per year in biomass consumption, 10% reduction in emissions, and 900+ manual operator interventions eliminated per day

Sustainability and operational excellence go hand in hand

Ence has received the AENOR Zero Waste certificate across all plants. It’s the first company to receive SURE certification in Europe, with 100% of plants certified for biomass sustainability. It ranked number one for ESG metrics in Sustainalytics’ Paper and Forestry sector. Ence’s success illustrates an essential lesson: Profitable growth and sustainability don’t have to be competing objectives; they’re twin outcomes of operational efficiency.

Ence didn’t just solve a water problem or an energy problem. They built a model for how industrial companies can operate with accountability and agility—even when conditions outside their control make both harder.        

Ready to learn more about the tools Ence used in its journey to sustainability and operational excellence?