Process and control today | DNV REVEALS THAT BETTER COOPERATION AND TRUST IN THE ENERGY SECTOR IS ESSENTIAL FOR DIGITAL TWINS TO DELIVER SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS IN THE ENERGY TRANSFORMATION

11/06/2024 DNV GL

In a new research report, DNV highlights the importance of industry collaboration and trust that digital twins can significantly benefit the UK’s energy transition.

DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, explores how digital twins can support the UK’s net zero targets in a new report, highlighting the key role of industry collaboration and trust in ensuring digital twins make a significant contribution to the energy transition.

This report includes interviews with regulators, asset owners, consultancies and government innovation agencies, revealing key insights into the UK’s path to net zero. Report, Connected insights into digital twins: meeting the challenge in the UK energy sector and beyondexplores the opportunities, benefits, barriers and risks of connected digital twins in the UK energy sector and seeks answers to the fundamental question – “How can I trust my digital twin?”

The UK’s first energy digitization strategy identified the need for a digital energy system as only smart data-driven systems can handle the influx of millions of new energy flows per second from emerging low-carbon technologies that will be connected to the grid in the coming years.

Energy capital expenditure in the country is expected to increase significantly (according to the DNV Energy Transition Outlook UK 2024^(AND)), digitalization offers significant opportunities for cost savings through smarter energy management in a context of variability, unpredictability and complexity. However, trust in technology and data integrity is critical to the successful adoption of digital twins, and cybersecurity is a major concern.

With this in mind, the report recommends the creation of a “national digital twin” to simulate and connect resources, processes and systems – highlighting the need for trust and collaboration across the sector needed to effectively share and integrate data.

Hari Vamadevan, senior vice president and regional director for the UK and Ireland, energy systems at DNVstates that: “The UK energy sector is on the cusp of an extraordinary transformation that will take us to unprecedented levels of interactivity and interconnection. Technologies such as connected digital twins will support this transformation; The question is how the sector can realize its potential and add new impetus to the UK’s stalling energy transition“

Justin Anderson, director of digital twin hub at Connected Places Catapult and one of the interlocutors emphasizes that: “Collaboration on data sharing will play a key role in reaping the benefits of connected digital twins, thus enabling planning for the role they can play in transforming the future energy system“

Corinna Jones, Chief Innovation Officer at National Gas, whose flagship digital twin project FutureGrid provided a high-profile use case in the report, explains that digital twins “fundamental importance”, providing a use case for hydrogen integration. “While the climate benefits of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel are clear, the feasibility of making the transition using current infrastructure still needs to be demonstrated. Before introducing hydrogen into the existing national gas system, we need to understand the impact of cleaner gas on pipelines and assets to ensure safe, efficient and profitable operations.

“Digital twins are a key technology that will help us achieve this understanding. Our Spadeadam-based FutureGrid test facility – the DNV Research and Test Center – offers the ideal environment to demonstrate how digital twin technology can provide a robust method for managing hydrogen across the UK’s existing gas infrastructure. We see digital twin technologies as a catalyst to help organizations like us navigate the complexities of operating a national hydrogen transmission system.”

Hari Vamadevan, sums up: “At At DNV, we believe that trust is key to supporting the adoption of digital twins: finding the right balance between openness and security will be possible by drawing direct lessons from the industry on creating frameworks and standards to ensure the inspection, testing and certification of assets in digital as well as physical spaces“

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