DNV, a leading independent energy expert and assurance provider, has released a new report examining the role of digital twins in supporting the UK's net-zero objectives. The report, titled "Connected Digital Twin Insights: Rising to the Challenge across the UK Energy Sector and Beyond," emphasizes the critical importance of industry collaboration and trust in ensuring digital twins contribute substantially to the energy transition.
The report draws on interviews with a diverse range of stakeholders, including regulators, asset owners, consultancies, and government innovation agencies. These insights provide a comprehensive view of the UK's path to net zero and the potential impact of digital twin technology. A key focus of the report is exploring the opportunities, benefits, barriers, and risks associated with connected digital twins in the UK energy sector. It also addresses a fundamental question that many in the industry are grappling with: "How can I trust my digital twin?"
The UK's Energy Digitalisation Strategy underscores the necessity of a digitized energy system to accommodate the influx of millions of new energy flows per second from emerging low-carbon technologies. With the country's energy CAPEX projected to rise significantly, as outlined in DNV's Energy Transition Outlook UK 2024, digitalisation offers substantial cost-saving opportunities through smarter energy management. This is particularly crucial in the face of increasing volatility, unpredictability, and complexity in the energy sector.
The report highlights the potential of creating a "National Digital Twin" to simulate and interconnect assets, processes, and systems across the UK energy sector. This concept emphasizes the need for trust and collaboration across the industry, which are essential for effective data sharing and integration. Hari Vamadevan, Senior Vice President and Regional Director UK & Ireland, Energy Systems at DNV, stresses that the UK energy sector is on the brink of a remarkable transformation, leading to unprecedented levels of interactivity and interconnectivity. He notes that technologies like connected digital twins will underpin this transformation, raising questions about how the sector can harness their potential to accelerate the UK's energy transition.
The report also features insights from industry experts such as Justin Anderson, Director of the Digital Twin Hub at Connected Places Catapult, who emphasizes the pivotal role of collaborations in data sharing for realizing the benefits of connected digital twins. Corinna Jones, Head of Innovation at National Gas, provides a high-profile use case with the FutureGrid digital twin project, demonstrating the technology's importance in understanding the impact of hydrogen integration into the existing national gas system.
Trust in technology and data integrity emerges as a crucial factor for the successful adoption of digital twins. The report identifies cybersecurity as a significant concern that needs to be addressed to build confidence in digital twin implementations. DNV believes that finding the right balance between openness and security will be key to fostering digital twin adoption. This balance can be achieved by taking direct learnings from the industry about building frameworks and standards to ensure assets are inspected, tested, or certified in the digital space as well as the physical.
The report concludes by emphasizing DNV's belief that trust is fundamental to driving digital twin adoption in the energy sector. It calls for the development of robust frameworks and standards that can ensure the integrity and reliability of digital twins, mirroring the rigorous processes applied to physical assets. As the UK energy sector continues its transformation towards net-zero goals, the insights provided in this report offer valuable guidance for stakeholders looking to leverage digital twin technology in their operations and strategic planning.
