The GASCADE dispatching center.

Our dispatching center, which is at the heart of the pipeline system operated by GASCADE, is located in Kassel. From here we monitor and control all our pipelines and stations. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The dispatching center receives the relevant data via fiber-optic lines, which we started to install along our gas pipelines in the 1990s.

Long history

Natural gas became popular in Germany in the 1960s, when gas fields in Northern Germany were the main supply sources. Back then, their operation required metering stations that also monitored and controlled the downstream gas pipelines. 

In the 1970s, the country experienced a downright boom in natural gas. All over West Germany, high-capacity pipeline systems were built and linked with each other. The number of natural gas customers also rose rapidly. Since the old metering stations could no longer handle the large amounts of data, they were replaced with today's dispatching technology. The metering centers became dispatching centers equipped with professional controlling, monitoring and gas flow management systems.

The more the pipelines became linked with each other, the more complex the dispatching tasks became. In response, special contract and volume management approaches entered the business. In the 1990s, the focus shifted eastward. As a result of the newly opened borders, the quantities of natural gas flowing through the pipelines increased substantially. So did the number of nodes and transport customers. This trend continues through today with the ongoing development of the single European market.

Dispatching in figures

Signals: 62.000
Process images: 2.300
Fittings that can be controlled electrically: 1.500