Can digitisation revive a siloed energy sector?

Digital strategies are key to modernising disparate, ageing energy infrastructure, writes Iju Raj, executive vice president of research & development at AVEVA.

The global energy sector is subject to sustained stress amid gas price volatility and supply turmoil resulting from conflicts across the world. At the same time, energy demand is sharply rising. The world’s growing number of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, for example, are hungry for energy, while cryptocurrency mining is expected to double by 2026, requiring as much energy use as the whole of Japan.

The embattled energy industry is also facing logistical challenges driven by political responses to climate change and social pressures. For example, the Labour Party is aiming for the UK to reach zero carbon by 2030, which could result in further energy regulations for businesses. With these ongoing challenges, there is a need for transformative solutions.

The urgent need for digitisation

At the root cause of many energy challenges is the fact that the modern energy sector isn’t very modern at all. In the UK, for example, various components of the generation and distribution infrastructure were built between 50-70 years ago and are subject to varying levels of modernisation investment. According to ONS data, for example, “investment in the energy industry (in 2021 prices) was £4.6 billion in 2023, the lowest level since 2011 (£4.4 billion).”

Distributing electricity has always been a challenging business but has become more difficult because of interconnection bottlenecks, which are driven by the requirement to complete the necessary upgrades for bringing renewable energy projects online. By integrating these renewable energy projects, additional energy storage requirements are added to the existing grids, creating further complexity.

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Globally, grids have not kept pace with modern digitisation trends and remain stuck in the past. If consistent change is not implemented, ageing grids will disrupt the world’s race to decarbonisation. Fully replacing the grid is no mean feat. According to BloombergNEF, at least $21.4 trillion needs to be invested in the electricity grid by 2050 to support the world’s net-zero goals.

Part of the problem is that the current energy system analyses industrial inputs and outputs in a protracted, siloed manner. For example, every wind turbine at a wind farm runs completely on its own. Without digitisation initiatives, the turbines aren’t communicating with the wider turbine network. This means they lose access to real-time insights that may give early warning signs of damage or failure. The energy sector needs a tool that provides a digital and virtual element for assessing the industry’s unique infrastructure without expensive investments in all-new networks.

Digital twins to the rescue

For many current and future requirements, digital twin technologies can give organisations real-time insight into the energy grid by virtually depicting a physical environment such as a solar wind farm or green hydrogen manufacturing plant.

Digital twins are virtual representations of a physical object, process or system. Their role is to simulate the behaviour, characteristics and performance of their real-world counterparts. This includes data, models and analytics in varying proportions plus a visualisation experience, combining all possible data sets from engineering and operations, and enhancing it with one or more types of first-principle models and artificial intelligence.

Once the data has been aggregated, users can visualise it in a fit-for-purpose format to solve specific use cases. This allows engineers greater visibility into where improvements can be made, as digital twins can connect all data elements of the energy grid. They do this by deciphering the relationships between the data, which helps to bring extra context to the engineers and operator teams.

In practical terms, this can translate into improvements in operational efficiency by reducing downtime and improving asset performance, including predicting equipment failures, minimising maintenance costs and preventing unplanned outages. In addition, digital twins help model and track energy consumption, supporting efforts to meet sustainability targets and adhere to regulatory requirements.

Digital twins meet AI

While the digital twin concept is not new – it has been around for over 20 years – the arrival of generative AI technologies has added new impetus. For instance, industries already well advanced in digital twin and AI adoption have already started to actively blend digital insights with knowledge and experience from human, environmental and social sources.

Looking further ahead, the integration of AI and digital twins will certainly deepen, opening up a range of highly innovative capabilities for the energy sector. These are likely to include the use of self-optimising processes, where AI not only makes performance and reliability predictions, but also automatically adjusts operations to maximise efficiency. As AI models become more sophisticated, digital twins might also be able to simulate complex interactions within entire energy ecosystems, incorporating variables such as weather patterns, market conditions and renewable energy fluctuations.

There is also considerable scope for AI-powered digital twins to enhance cross-industry collaboration by creating interconnected digital ecosystems that optimise everything from energy grids to supply chains. This has the potential to drive smarter, more sustainable operations to ensure that energy efficiency, supply and security are coordinated on a scale that simply isn’t possible with legacy technologies and processes.

Digital twins in the real world

For the main challenges of transmission and distribution, a digital twin provides a rich source of data for simulations and optimisation allowing quicker and more efficient implementation of sub-stations, towers and energy storage facilities for the integration of renewable energy sources.

In the UK, for example, the National Grid claimed a world first when it launched a ‘Virtual Energy System’, which it describes as “a data sharing infrastructure to enable an ecosystem of interconnected digital twins of the entire energy landscape, working in parallel to the physical system.” The objective of this project is to “improve simulation and forecasting abilities to support the long-term vision to operate a zero-carbon electricity system.”

In Germany, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology announced plans to create a working simulation of Germany’s entire renewable energy system, from individual plants and Power-to-X projects to storage and electric mobility infrastructure. And earlier this year, The EU’s Federated Digital Twins for Wind-Offshore project was launched. Aimed at ensuring greater energy reliability and security, the digital twin will integrate existing models, simulation assets and real-time data.

Among the most ambitious current projects, however, is TwinEU, which will create a digital twin concept of the entire European electricity grid. Backed by €20M in funding, it will cover 15 countries and will unite “competences from grid and market operators, technology providers, and research centres. This collective effort will ensure a resilient, secure, and efficient energy operation across Europe.”

The way forward

The technologies used to embody a digital twin represent an important step in accelerating modernisation efforts across the energy sector, providing a foundational layer for integrating more advanced technologies. Digital twins serve as a strong data platform for AI insights and in the future could be used to create an industrial metaverse; an immersive environment that merges the physical and digital worlds, facilitating seamless interaction and collaboration between people and data.

The technology’s potential is vast, from enhancing safety in industrial settings and bridging the skills gap through virtual training to optimising supply chains and beyond. In the face of significant challenges, digital twins offer a route to transforming energy efficiency, emissions reduction and decision-making within the sector. Despite the complexities of energy transition, digital twins can provide practical pathways for an efficient and connected future.