Valmet to upgrade Mercer’s Peace River pulp mill in Alberta

Photo: Valmet

Valmet and Mercer International continue collaborating to advance Mercer’s digital transformation. Valmet has received an order for the Valmet DNAe Distributed Control System (DCS) as a part of the ongoing modernization project at Mercer’s Peace River pulp mill in Alberta, Canada. The order includes the Valmet DNAe Distributed Control System with mill-wide automation infrastructure and pulp dryer automation, including an upgrade for the Valmet IQ Quality Control System (QCS).

The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the first quarter of 2025. The value of the order will not be disclosed.

Valmet and Mercer International entered a long-term distributed control systems and digitalization partnership in 2022, with the aim to build a common DCS platform for Mercer’s global sites to accelerate Mercer’s digital transformation.

“We wanted a partner that can provide a strong DCS solution but, at the same time, help improve our performance through better data utilization, internal benchmarking, and collaboration across all our sites. We chose Valmet because of their expertise in pulp, extensive automation offering, and strong digitalization capabilities. It was the logical next step for us to adopt the latest available technology after the recently introduced Valmet DNAe,” says Adolf Koppensteiner, Chief Operating Officer, Mercer International.

“We are delighted to continue our long-time collaboration with Mercer and empower them on their digitalization journey with the latest DCS technology. Valmet DNAe will provide Mercer with a truly future-proof foundation for digitalization with exceptional usability and cybersecurity by design,” says Emilia Torttila-Miettinen, President, Automation Systems, Valmet.

Mercer International Inc. is a global forest products company with operations in Germany, the United States, and Canada with a consolidated annual production capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of pulp, 2.3 million cubic meters of lumber, 210,000 cubic meters of cross-laminated timber, 45,000 cubic meters of glulam, 17 million pallets and 230,000 metric tonnes of biofuels.