Technologies and Applications of Digital Twin for Developing Smart Energy Systems

Wenhu Tang , Xingyu Chen , Tong Qian , Gang Liu , Mengshi Li , Licheng Li

Strategic Study of CAE ›› 2020, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (4) : 74 -85.

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Strategic Study of CAE ›› 2020, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (4) : 74 -85. DOI: 10.15302/J-SSCAE-2020.04.010
Internet Plus Action Plan Development Strategy
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Technologies and Applications of Digital Twin for Developing Smart Energy Systems

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Abstract

The smart energy strategy can provide an energy sharing platform that is interconnected, transparent, and mutually beneficial. The digital twin technology can help break technical and market barriers associated with the development of smart energy. However, the digital twin technology is still in its infancy within the smart energy industry and lacks research on its development and application; a systematic research framework has not yet been formed. This study aims to promote the application of digital twin technology to the smart energy industry by summarizing the development experience of the technology in China and abroad and discussing its future development paths. After comparing the definitions and applications of digital twin technology in different fields, the definition of digital twin for smart energy systems is established, and its general architecture, key technologies, and ecological construction are discussed respectively. Moreover, application cases are briefly analyzed. Furthermore, countermeasures are proposed from three aspects: technology development, ecological construction, and policy establishment. This study is hoped to provide a reference for engineering applications of the digital twin technology in the smart energy industry.

Keywords

智慧能源系统 / 数字孪生 / 通用架构 / 能源系统生态 / smart energy system / digital twin / general architecture / energy ecosystem

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Wenhu Tang, Xingyu Chen, Tong Qian, Gang Liu, Mengshi Li, Licheng Li. Technologies and Applications of Digital Twin for Developing Smart Energy Systems. Strategic Study of CAE, 2020, 22(4): 74-85 DOI:10.15302/J-SSCAE-2020.04.010

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1 Introduction

With the advancement of digital technology and the deepening of China’s power system reform, the acceleration of energy transition has become an industry consensus. However, there are institutional, technological, and market barriers in the energy industry that impede the energy transition process. The National Energy Administration has proposed a smart energy strategy to build an energy-sharing platform that is interconnected, transparent, open, and mutually beneficial to address the common barriers in the energy industry [1]. Digital twin technology can facilitate a precise connection between the physical world and the digital world, and is a potential solution to the technical problems associated with the development of smart energy. Moreover, it supports accurate simulation and control of energy interconnection networks from multiple angles. However, the definition and application architecture of digital twins in the smart energy industry requires further investigation. Furthermore, the application test of digital twins for energy systems is only in the preliminary verification and exploration stage, which involves research on digital twin modeling of the energy systems of substation equipment, power transmission networks, and thermal power plants [2–4].

This research focuses on digital twins for the development of smart energy systems, investigates the demand for digital twins in the field of smart energy in addition to the research status and trends in China and abroad, explores the definition and general architecture of digital twins for smart energy systems, and analyzes the key technologies and ecological construction of digital twins for smart energy systems. On this basis, deployment and application case studies of digital twins for the smart energy industry are investigated, and the development direction and application trend of digital twins for the smart energy industry are predicted.

2 Demand analysis of digital twin for smart energy systems

2.1 Macro demand analysis

The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Upholding and Improving the Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics and Promoting the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Ability that was proposed on November 2019 requires the promotion of the energy revolution and the building of clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy systems. The Thirteenth Five-Year National Strategic Emerging Industry Development Plan proposes to cultivate new businesses and formats based on smart energy, and to build a new energy consumption ecology and industrial system. As such, the ecosystem of the energy industry is undergoing profound changes in China.

At present, COVID-19 has negatively affected the development of the economic and energy industry in China. Specifically, coal, natural gas, electricity, and new energy industries have been affected to some extent. This does not change the requirements of China’s energy systems with respect to achieving the goal of energy transition. The fundamental changes in energy production and utilization methods urgently require a new generation of digital technologies as key support.

2.2 Technical demand analysis

Energy supply in China is shifting toward decentralized production and network sharing, but there are still institutional, technical, and market barriers in the energy industry. Moreover, there are many problems associated with opacity and the lack of information sharing on the energy supply, transmission, and consumption side. The Internet Plus smart energy strategy proposed by the National Energy Administration aims at using modern information technologies to develop an interconnected, transparent, open, and mutually beneficial information network platform, obviating the existing asymmetric information relationship between production, transmission, distribution, and use of energy to advance the revolution of energy production and consumption patterns, and to reconstruct the ecosystem of the energy industry. The implementation of this strategy requires energy systems to implement in-depth digital transition. Moreover, the use of new technologies to facilitate digital transition is an urgent need.

Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and digital twins have introduced new momentum to the innovation and transition of the energy industry, which supports the acceleration of the digital transition of energy systems.

The development of a smart energy ecosystem is the trend of China’s energy industry, and the digital twin technology system that integrates the Internet of things (IoT), communication technology, big data analysis technology, high-performance computing technology, and advanced simulation analysis technology is key to solving the problems associated with the development of smart energy. Based on existing energy system modeling and online monitoring technology, the digital twin technology system further involves state perception, edge computing, intelligent interconnection, protocol adaptation, intelligent analysis, and other technologies, providing more abundant and authentic models for the smart energy system, thus fully serving the operation and control of the systems.

3 Research status and trends in digital twin for smart energy systems

In recent years, there has been rapid development in research on the theory and application of digital twins [5]. General Electric (GE) and the University of Cincinnati have applied digitization to the entire process from design to maintenance and the optimization of production. However, they have not achieved a unified model for digital twins [6]. The American ANSYS company proposed the ANSYS twin builder to create a digital twin that can be quickly connected to the industrial IoT, which is used to improve product performance, reduce the risk of unexpected downtime, and optimize the next generation of products [7]. A digital twin reference model has been proposed [8], which facilitated a comprehensive description of the product lifecycle at the conceptual level. In related studies, a multi-mode data acquisition method was employed, which coupled a production system with a database, and facilitated state perception and analysis in digital twins [9].

Compared to the rapid development in foreign countries, research in China on digital twins is still in its infancy [5]. A digital twin design framework has been proposed to describe complex products and to explore the key technologies in the development process [2]. Based on the Flownex software, the Pera Global Digital Twin Laboratory established a digital twin thermal power plant model [3], which served as a technical reference for the engineering design and maintenance of thermal power plants. A team from Tsinghua University used the digital twin CloudIEPS platform to implement a digital twin integrated energy system model, which facilitated enhanced functionality and cost reduction [4].

It is generally believed that digital twin technology is suitable for modeling complex systems with asset-intensive and high-reliability requirements. This technology has gradually been applied to many industrial fields, especially in manufacturing. The smart energy system is a comprehensive and complex system that integrates multiple energy sources, which is highly compatible with the application of digital twins. However, the current application and development of digital twin technologies in smart energy is relatively fragmented, and there is no established framework for their application and implementation.

4 Definition and architecture of digital twin for smart energy systems

4.1 Definition of digital twin technologies for smart energy systems

Digital twin technologies were initially utilized in the military and aerospace industry. Its basic concept was proposed by Professor Greives in the product lifecycle management course at the University of Michigan in 2003 [2]. The design framework of the corresponding digital twin grid is shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. The design frame of the digital twin grid [2].

7.2.3 Digital twin integrated energy systems

The concept of an integrated energy system originated in the field of coordinated operation of heat and power, and has been developed into a system that integrates multiple energy sources in a certain district [3], and the corresponding model can accurately predict the operating performance of these plants. It can be employed to address management failures and system bottlenecks based on system constraints, provide forward-looking guidance for daily maintenance or replacement, and evaluate work priorities after shutdown. In this case, the assessment of the impact on condenser structure is considered as an example to determine the probability that fouling adversely affects the backpressure of the main condenser. This serves as an effective reference for the design and operation of relevant equipment. With the assistance of the digital twin CloudIEPS platform, a research team from Tsinghua University established a digital twin integrated energy system model [4]. This included an electrical load, cooling load, heat load, gas generators, absorption chiller, gas boiler, photovoltaic, battery, ice storage air-conditioning systems, and other subsystems. These models were used to optimize the capacity of various devices to reduce the system’s operational cost.

As such, digital twin integrated energy systems can realize “source–grid–load” connection of equipment via the Industrial Internet. The digital twin model of an energy system can be constructed using multi-physical fields, multiscale modeling and simulation, and industrial big data, to facilitate state monitoring, fault diagnosis, and operational optimization of energy systems to realize the “twins’ wisdom” of integrated energy systems.

8 Countermeasures and suggestions

In the context of energy transition and Internet Plus, policy barriers in various energy industries should be circumvented. As a result, the physical connection and interaction of various energy systems should be developed, and smart energy systems with multiple optimized and coordinated sources should be established. For the implementation of digital twins, it is first necessary to build a support platform for closed-loop feedback, optimization, and decision making with cloud–edge bidirectional data and information interaction. The platform is the core of the application of digital twins to smart energy systems, and helps to address the technical and market barriers encountered during development. This is useful for achieving continuous innovation of services, immediate response to demand, and industrial upgrading and optimization. Based on these concepts, we propose the following recommendations for the development of digital twin technology in the smart energy industry based on three aspects: technology development, application ecosystem, and policy establishment.

8.1 Building technology and resource sharing platform and jointly tackling technical development challenges

Participants in the smart energy industry (such as companies, universities, and research institutes) not only need to accelerate the key research technologies of architecture and the supporting platforms of smart energy systems, but also need to improve exchanges and cooperation between all participants. The development of technology and resource sharing platforms is beneficial to research units, and facilitates the sharing of breakthrough progress and the development of bottleneck judgments during the implementation of digital twin applications. This leads to the improvement of the cooperation between universities and enterprises, and collaborative investigation of the key technical elements and difficulties encountered during the implementation of digital twins.

8.2 Integrating the disciplinary characteristics of energy ecosystems and building comprehensive digital twin application systems

To better promote the application of digital twins in the entire lifecycle of the energy industry, value creation, value-added information, business innovation, and overall benefits should be improved. First, the advantages of various fields should be organized in the smart energy ecosystem. Moreover, the characteristics of multi-disciplinary integration should be combined to develop a comprehensive digital twin application system that integrates different fields and has strong universality, including the “data chain” design technology, digital twin modeling technology, and dynamic interaction technology. Through the establishment of preliminary pilot projects and gradual advancement to the entire smart energy industry, the barriers between various fields can be reduced, and the comprehensive effect of digital twins can be fully realized in the ecosystem development for smart energy systems.

8.3 Promoting standards formulation for digital twin development

The formulation of digital twin standards is still in its infancy. A few international organizations have initiated the compilation of these standards. The compilation of digital twin standards in China has not been initiated. As such, the lack of standards references such as digital twin-related terms and applicable guidelines has affected the development of digital twins for smart energy systems. There is an urgent need to initiate the formulation of standards related to digital twins in China. Moreover, educational and research institutions should develop relevant personnel training programs as soon as possible, allocate relevant resources to promote the development of digital twins for the smart energy industry, and cultivate talent in the field of digital twin applications. Personnel training and technical exchange should be implemented from a global perspective, to gradually narrow the gap with developed countries. This will provide a strong foundation for the digital transition of China’s energy systems.

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