Digital twins at heart of Europe’s electricity system digitalisation
Image: Sintef
Digital twins have emerged as a powerful tool for the digitalisation of Europe’s electricity system, a joint ENTSO-E, DSO Entity report indicates.
The joint report on TSO-DSO challenges and opportunities for digitalisation points to its critical need to enhance grid operation, planning and customer integration – essential for achieving global and European carbon emission reduction targets.
The recommended solution is the development of digital twins, i.e. virtual replicas of physical systems, that can enable improved monitoring, prediction and decision-making across the lifecycle of grid assets, from development and planning to operational monitoring and scenario simulation.
Europe’s power system – as also others – face numerous challenges from the rapid increase of distributed energy resources whose integration requires coordinated planning and operational strategies to the evolving geopolitical situation requiring robust cyber defences.
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Digital twins are able to contribute to solving these challenges and exploiting the opportunities they present, with the key difference over a simple simulation model being a data connection that enables a strong convergence between the states of the physical and digital system.
The report indicates that as the expectations for digital twins vary depending on the use case, it is crucial to establish early agreements on system approaches, data exchange protocols and operational boundaries to avoid misalignment.
Digital twin approaches
Three different digital twin system approaches are defined, i.e. local digital twins for specific assets or use cases, an integrated digital twin integrating systems and a ‘system of systems’ approach with collaboration to develop interoperable digital twins standards and platforms.
The report calls for a strategic approach to digital twin implementation, starting with immediate operational issues while building long-term goals for interoperability, resilience and collaborative solutions across stakeholders.
A collaborative approach among TSOs, DSOs, policymakers and industry leaders is deemed essential to maximise the potential, including establishing harmonised data formats, interoperability standards and strong cybersecurity protocols.
There is the need for clear governance structures, high-data quality, and enhanced interoperability at the organisational, informational and technical levels for digital twin adoption to succeed and to ensure seamless data exchange across diverse platforms and devices.
The report concludes that through the advancements they offer, digital twins have the potential to reshape Europe’s energy landscape, driving it towards a resilient and sustainable future.
EU projects
Projects under way in Europe include TwinEU creating a concept for a pan-European digital twin, Destination Earth developing a digital twin of the Earth and NextGrid for distribution grid operation.
Under the EU energy system digitalisation action plan, the ENTSO-E-DSO Entity joint task force is charged with developing a digital twin of the EU electricity system.
Among the work prioritised in 2025 is the identification and creation of use cases that address specific, real-world challenges and needs and the establishment of a roadmap to highlight the interconnections and dependencies between the TSO and DSO challenges and the proposed use cases as well as to provide a sequence of recommended activities.
Originally published on enlit.world
