New digital twin will plan the energy systems of the future

In the Netherlands, a consortium has been set up to develop digital twins for the purposes of studying nation-scale energy systems in real time.

The consortium has been dubbed UTOPYS — ‘UndersTanding large and cOmplex Power sYstemS’. Led by principal investigator Professor Peter Palensky of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the project involves eight Dutch research organisations, along with SURF — the IT cooperative of Dutch education and research. It has received a €16.5 million grant through the Large-Scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) program of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Being able to develop this state-of-the-art research infrastructure will allow scientists to explore new theories and methods for modelling, control, optimisation and design of future complex energy systems and their interactions with society over the next century.

“With this incredible grant, we can work on the safety and resilience of energy systems and make an important contribution to the security of Europe’s future energy networks,” Palensky said.

Futuristic infrastructure breaks new ground

Said to be the first of its kind worldwide, the new digital twin will be capable of dynamically representing complex energy infrastructure, allowing researchers to simulate and study the energy system of the future before building it.

The unique platform will enable investigation of crucial phenomena such as cyber-physical dynamics, hidden instability modes, complex controller interactions, swarm behaviour and cyber vulnerabilities — all key challenges that future energy scientists must master.

At TU Delft, research on the energy transition is a key strategic priority, as seen in initiatives such as Delft Energy (DE) and PowerWeb Institute. PowerWeb Institute, which facilitates cross-faculty and cross-disciplinary collaboration in energy systems, coordinated the preparation of the UTOPYS proposal.

Responding to a rapidly changing world

Energy systems worldwide are facing the same challenges. Electrification of transport, heating and industry have the potential to lead to unprecedented loading and congestion. Meanwhile, distributed renewable energy resources such as solar panels, along with a growing number of digital assets, increase complexity and threaten grid stability. At the same time, the need for national autonomy and resilience calls for fundamental rethinking of how energy networks are designed and operated.

“The way we plan and operate energy systems is still based on assumptions that are over 100 years old,” Palensky said.

“Back then, large but simple rotating machines generated electricity that was instantly distributed via the grid. Today, these assumptions no longer hold; we now have power-electronic converters, distributed functions and intelligent digital actors that create complex, fast-changing behaviours. Existing methods can no longer keep up.”

Security and other issues

Koen Kok, Professor of Intelligent Energy Systems at the Electrical Engineering Department of the Eindhoven University of Technology, said the group would not just be responding to technological changes in energy systems.

“We also care for fairness in the system; how will we distribute and share electricity among citizens, for instance?” Kok said.

“Further, we need to take malicious actors into account, focusing on cybersecurity up to sabotage and physical attacks. We need a grid that is prepared for the unknown, since uncertainty is not only in the weather,” he added.

“The goal is to investigate alternative topologies, controls, market rules and the impact of new technologies. For this we are setting up the most powerful digital twin for electricity system research worldwide.”

Netherlands leads the way

The consortium already has experience in creating and operating smaller versions of such digital twins. The new infrastructure, however, will lift their research to a completely new level: entire countries can be replicated and analysed, as well as technologies and systems that do not yet exist.

“The Netherlands is already a European leader in this field,” Palensky said. “Over the next decade, UTOPYS will advance that position by driving scientific breakthroughs in the understanding and management of complex energy systems. We are developing novel modelling approaches for complex, multiscale and stochastic systems — methods also relevant to urban climate, water and transport infrastructures.

“UTOPYS unites power systems, computer science, mathematics, energy economics and law in a truly interdisciplinary effort, and we are committed to sharing all results through open-source models and data so both experts and non-experts can explore and innovate,” he added.

UTOPYS was ranked number one among all proposals submitted to the NWO LSRI program. Through LSRI, NWO strategically invests in large-scale research facilities across the Netherlands. The organisation aims to ensure these facilities remain state-of-the-art or beyond, extending their operational lifetimes to support future scientific breakthroughs.

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