New technologies with power of power
After experiencing a partial nuclear thaw in 1979, the installation of the three miles near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was associated with a nuclear disaster. The incident was so noticeable that it caused a widespread distrust of nuclear energy at that time. Now, however, the installation is expected to return to online by 2028 to provide energy to Microsoft data centers.
The Three Mile Island Renaissance is not an isolated loose. He has exploited the demand for new power centers with power to feed and, electric vehicles without emissions and other technological advances, with installations under construction and online worldwide. Joe Travis, principal director, Bentley’s solution engineering, calls it one of the largest constructions of infrastructure in human history.
“It is expected that the amount of energy consumed by data centers is quadruple in the next 20 years,” he said.
Electric utilities are under enormous pressure to increase capacity, either through the construction of new units of generation, increasing the capacity of transmission or simply the maintenance of aged assets. But demand for decrease is not the only thing that adds to the workload.
As the world goes to a low carbon and electrified economy, clean energy delivery and energy efficiency are no longer optional. They are now essential and critical. The wind and solar farms are multiplied, supported by an increasingly efficient storage of batteries. Biomass plants continue to bloom and microgids are an attractive option to support data centers. The energy transition will bring significant benefits, but it takes a lot of time, money and effort.
“We are really trying to help keep the network and keep the network alive reliably and sustainable,” said Travis.
Although the workloads increase as the public service race to catch up, there are fewer workers available to deal with jobs. A significant number of Baby Boomer’s electrical engineers reach retirement age, giving rise to a shortage of labor. Utilities cannot have additional employees to overcome the increasing demand for new and updated projects.
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SILED technology cannot keep up to date
For decades, electrical engineers have adopted new digital technologies to try to improve their functioning. Although this change has helped to move forward in numerous aspects of the design, construction and maintenance of electricity infrastructure, much of the work remains separate with little or no collaboration. There are now a number of specialized applications for individual types of assets, but too often these assets are in isolation. A top level application for energy generation cannot help if a source of transmission fails.
“Applications must adjust to the entire network life cycle from generation following the electron through the entire network to customers who use energy,” said Travis.
Therefore, any really effective technological solution must be aware of the entire electricity system. Utilities need a single and intuitive source of information that unites data for all assets so that workers can determine the status of all assets at a glance. With this knowledge, equipment can improve decision -making, speed up responses to any electrical interruption and determine when you need to repair or replace assets.
In order to achieve this whole view of the system, applications must be open and interoperable. The software designed for energy and transmission equipment must be easily shared with each other, instead of provoking compatibility problems.
The interconnected data form the foundation of a digital twin, which is a digital representation of an asset, process or physical system, as well as the engineering information that allows teams to understand and model their performance. A digital twin enhances utilities with updated information on the operations and health of the entire electricity system, not just individual components. In addition, a digital twin created during the technical design with technical data can be enriched, helping to inform the construction, operations and maintenance.
Complicated system, small footprint
To demonstrate how digital twins and unified work flows can benefit all elements of electrical transmission, we follow a hypothetical electron from the moment of energy generation to their delivery to a customer.
Electrons can start their trip to modest generators to help manufacturing power needs or may occur at massive stations aimed at illuminating entire regions. For example, the Baihetan Hydroelectric Station, located on the top of the Yangtze River in China, is the second largest hydroelectric installation in the world, consisting of 16 units of energy generation with a capacity of 1 Gigawatt each. But all the power generated cannot help if it is not delivered to the customers. Specifically, Chinese officials wanted to transmit the energy of the station 2,000 kilometers away to the east of China, solving the shortage of continuous power and providing without carbon without energy.
The ambitious goal would require a lot of equipment, but the space was limited. As a result, Southwest Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd. De China Power Engineering Consulting (Swepdi) developed a concept “three stations in one” that combines two converters’ stations sent to the main converter station, making the installation more compact.
However, bringing this plan to life meant rethinking -despite asking many questions, said Travis.
“What about riders who need to enter the ground,” he asked. “Or the structural capabilities of the utility network? What types of materials should be used, some built far away while others are made on -site?”
The answer to these questions was to create a digital twin from the whole site. Using Bentley applications, they used the virtual replica of the project to determine how to save space, what materials to be used and the length of each pile foundation to provide stability in the varied ground.
With the knowledge obtained from the digital twin, Swepdi found ways to overcome technical obstacles, optimize the design of the site and lower the footprint. In the end, they reduced the amount of land required by 10 hectares, shortened the development schedule in 70 days and saved 7 million CNY.
Preserving a critical transmission bottleneck
Once the hypothetical electron is generated and sent, it needs a reliable transmission route. Often, due to geographical restrictions, transmission to a specific area is restricted to a single line. If assets that support this bottleneck fail, customers in this area could deal with a turn or more weeks.
This is the situation that LG & E and KU Energy public services face. The station generating the falls of Ohio, built on the Ohio river in Kentucky almost a century ago, depends on two towers of vintage jealousy to transmit electricity through the water. Since the towers were built at the same time as the 1920’s station, they resisted and gradually weakened during the last century. Something had to be done to maintain the flowing energy, but completely replacing the towers could have been prohibitively expensive and increase the time to function.
“In this case, the question was” We can use an older structure that already has, or do we have to place time, money and investments to create a new one? “, Asked Travis.
The exo useful infrastructure asset management company realized that the best way to determine the current health of the towers and the most effective way to rehabilitate -it would be to create a digital twin. First they used drones to capture images of the tower from all angles, then headed for the capture applications and Bentley Itwin power line systems to create the digital twin.
The model gave exo a convenient and accurate replica of the towers, helping them to precisely measure the lagoons and to evaluate corrosion from the comfort of their office. As a result, they created a plan to rehabilitate instead of replaced, saving about $ 80 million and eliminating up to 10 years of planning and permission.
Effective maintenance in the desert
Now, we follow the electron to an electrical substation near its final stop with a client. Essential energy, like most public services, manages a wide set of substations. Unlike most public services, their assets are at the Australian exit, far from the metro areas and often in treacherous land. These substations, dating to the 1960’s, need maintenance and updates to serve a growing population. However, reaching them can be a challenge.
“Can I get a truck out there with the right transformer and the right tools? The last thing you want to do is driving 500 kilometers at the exit and realizing -you forgot the proper tool or the truck transformer will not adapt to where you need,” said Travis.
A digital twin of its system would give a greater clarity of the essential energy in the state of each substation. They started using drones and Bentley Itwin captures to not only capture images not only of the substations, but also the surrounding environment. In this way, maintenance equipment can be prepared for any kind of danger. They combined virtual environments with a smart digital design system, which automated writing and enabled virtual design reviews. As a result, they reduced their costs by 50%, reduced related carbon travel and emissions, and improved the quality of repairs and updates to ensure a resistant source of power in the rural area.
Connecting — Everything with a digital twin
As these case studies illustrate, each electron generated depends on a series of complicated equipment and assets to get where to go. The digital twins and the open technology that supports them can provide the owners and operators with an intuitive view of all the elements of the electric system, without having to break open data silos or try to find those with deep technical knowledge when something goes wrong.
“Having a unified view of the whole digital twin provides greater transparency to what exists today and what we can plan and design for the future,” said Travis.
As the data is created or edited by the ecosystem of subcontractors and sellers, the digital twin remains up to date and reflects the conditions in a nearby environment in real time, so that everyone is seeing the same and the interested parties may be informed. Utilities can react faster in the face of increasing demand, and new elements can be easily incorporated into the existing system. With digital twins, public services can exceed emerging challenges and keep electrons moving.
Author bio
Joe Travis has a rich background in the energy sector, after working with major software vendors and leading teams on various roles. In Bentley Systems, it has been essential for improving infrastructure software and guiding large infrastructure projects. His experience encompasses GIS/GPS technologies and electricity distribution networks, which makes him a valuable asset for Bentley Systems’ energy industry solutions. Joe’s leadership and technical knowledge has been essential to modernizing the energy sector and supporting its transition to renewable energy sources.
