TwinEU – Digital Twin for Europe
A deep transformation of our energy system is imperative to tackle the climate crisis and reduce the external energy dependency of the EU in line with the goals set by the EU Green Deal and REPowerEU Plan. Digitalisation has thus become a top priority to enhance system interoperability and connectivity, accelerate grid investments and empower consumers while addressing cybersecurity corners.
In this context, with the publication of the Digitalising the Energy System EU Action Plan, the European Commission pledged support to Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and Transmission System Operators (TSOs) for the creation of a digital twin of the European electricity grid to boost its efficiency and smartness and enhance the energy system as a whole. The effort will be supported by continuous innovation and coordinated investments in five key areas: (a) observability and controllability; (b) efficient infrastructure and network planning; (c) operations and simulations for a more resilient grid; (d) active system management and forecasting to support flexibility and demand response; and (e) data exchange between TSOs and DSOs.
TwinEU will leverage on the experience of the CoordiNet and OneNet projects on TSO-DSO-Consumer coordination and the expertise of grid and market operators, to create a Pan-European concept of digital twin, based on the federation of local twins. The large-scale implementation of this concept, validated in 8 pilots across 11 EU countries, will enable a reliable, resilient and safe operation of grid infrastructure while supporting the emergence of new business models to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources in Europe.
Hard Facts
Objectives
- Define a set of scenarios for the use of a digital twin benefitting from intra and cross-country data sharing among system operators
- Define and implement a reference architecture for the creation of a Digital Twin at the EU scale.
- Define and implement a federated digital twin to support EU-wide replication
- Enhance data models and semantic interoperability and leverage advanced technologies, to better support the digital twin use cases
- Develop and deploy digital twin services for a more resilient and reliable EU power network
- Demonstrate the TwinEU approach across the complete energy and data value chains and promote its real, long-term implementation at the EU scale.
E.DSO and DSOs
The project consortium counts on the expertise of 15 European DSOs (including our members, Alliander, Areti, EAC, E.ON, HEDNO, i-DE and Stedin) which will contribute to the development and validation of TwinEU’s federated digital twin concept in cooperation with an equal number of TSOs. The 8 project pilots will test several use cases addressing a multitude of grid operator needs including:
- Enhanced grid observability, real-time monitoring and controllability.
- Operational planning.
- Cyberattack detection and response.
- Forecasting and flexibility market participation of Distributed Energy Resource (DER).
- Congestion management.
- Asset and flexibility management.
- Network planning.
As part of the consortium, E.DSO will ensure the alignment of gaps, goals and use case requirements defined by the project with the challenges and needs faced by DSOs in relation to digitalisation, interoperability, flexibility, and cross-sector integration. Furthermore, E.DSO will leverage its knowledge of regulatory issues and technical expertise to support the impact assessment of the solutions developed by the project, leading a task dedicated to the evolution of the EU regulation and energy markets towards digital twinning. Lastly, E.DSO will support targeted outreach to key European industry and policy stakeholders and research initiatives, fostering the replication and exploitation of projects’ results.
More Information
- DSO White Paper - A Multi-Scale Approach For A Digitalised Energy System Transformation, focusing on the pillars of the digital transformation.
- DSO Grid Observability For Flexibility Report, identifying the relevant elements of grid observability to unlock the potential of flexibility sources in smart distribution grids.
- Leveraging IoT and Edge Computing Infrastructures to foster Energy Flexibilities through next energy sectorial integration, providing a comprehensive overview of the ongoing developments for flexibility services, focusing on IoT and edge computing infrastructures.
- The value of the digital transformation, identifying key drivers of grid modernisation to overcome the DSO challenges faced with the digital transformation.
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