DSO Innovation Briefing: Digital Twin

As Europe’s energy transition accelerates, electricity system operators face growing pressure to connect new loads, integrate renewable energy sources, and increase grid capacity, all while managing costs and lengthy infrastructure development timelines. To meet these challenges, we must make better use of existing grid assets and deploy innovative solutions that can unlock flexibility, improve efficiency, and support faster decision-making.

While many innovative grid technologies have already demonstrated significant value, their deployment remains limited across much of Europe. Through CurrENT’s DSO Innovation Briefing Series, we aim to bridge this gap by providing practical insights into the technologies available today, their benefits, and real-world applications.

In this session, we will explore Digital Twin technologies and how they can help DSOs gain deeper visibility into their networks, optimise planning and operations, and make more informed investment decisions.

Why Digital Twin Technologies Matter:

Digital twins create virtual representations of physical grid assets and systems, allowing DSOs to better understand network behaviour and make data-driven decisions.

Key benefits include:

• Improved network visibility, providing real-time insights into asset performance, grid conditions, and operational risks.
• Enhanced planning and forecasting, enabling DSOs to simulate future scenarios, assess network constraints, and anticipate investment needs.
• Optimised asset management, supporting predictive maintenance strategies and helping extend asset lifetimes while reducing operational costs.
• More efficient network operations, helping identify bottlenecks, improve grid resilience, and support flexibility management.
• Better investment decisions, enabling a more holistic view of network development and reducing uncertainty when planning infrastructure upgrade.

A Digital Data Inventory and the integration of data silos are key prerequisites for leveraging digital technology. By combining asset-based data, geospatial data, modelling, and advanced analytics, digital twins can help DSOs unlock greater value from existing infrastructure, improve system reliability, and support the transition to a more digitalised energy system.

Meet This Session’s Speaker