Isle of Wight energy system to demonstrate digital twin potential

A digital twin is to be developed for the Isle of Wight’s electricity system as a demonstrator for Britain’s National Digital Twin Programme.

The demonstrator aims to model the island’s electricity network from the 132kV interconnectors to local 400V transformers to serve as a test to see how digital twin-related technologies and processes can facilitate delivery of long-term policy objectives.

Other objectives are to aid the Isle of Wight in understanding how it can deliver on its ambition of becoming an ‘energy autonomous community’ self-sufficient in electricity from renewable sources and to examine how digital twin-related technologies and processes can support improved delivery of regulatory requirements and strategic frameworks.

Through the concept of a flexible marketplace that optimises controllable heating, storage and e-mobility services, the tool should enable an understanding of how better balancing of demand and generation could be delivered, as well as the potential for additional renewable energy sources to meet the island’s energy need.

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At the core of this digital twin approach is the ability to test different scenarios in the digital space, and to begin to be able to answer ‘what if’ scenarios.

The key stakeholders in the initiative are the local network operator Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the Isle of Wight Energy Hub, which is developing a low-carbon local energy system and the Isle of Wight Council.

The Isle of Wight is located a few kilometres off the south coast of England. It is approximately rhomboidal in shape, about 35km across and 20km north to south.

Current electricity demand is approximately 530GWh, of which about one quarter is from renewable resources, primarily solar as well as anaerobic digestion and landfill gas.

The island is targeting electricity self-sufficiency with renewables by 2030 and net zero by 2040.

The intention is to use the demonstrator to test and refine the playbooks and tools developed in other National Digital Twin Programme projects, with further outputs to be scoped with the project stakeholders.

The next step in the project is the identification and understanding of the needs of the stakeholders, as well as the delineation of the central problems that require solutions.

These will then feed into a draft ‘minimum viable product’, which will then progress into the testing phase.