Energy Queensland is building a digital twin

Energy Queensland is building a 3D digital twin of its above and below-ground infrastructure in an effort to better manage its assets.

Credit: Energy Queensland/Esri

Those assets include 153,000 substations, 178,000 kilometers of overhead lines and 1.7 million power poles.

GIS delivery executive Shannon Connolly told the recent Esri user conference 2022 that the company is making use of ArcGIS utility network, a spatial information system designed for utility providers.

The software enables several use cases, including models that ‘zoom out’ to a real-world image of an asset - for example, a substation - and offer several layers of detail to ‘zoom in’ on, such as schematics and colour-coded connection points.

Field crews also use it to scope assets virtually before a truck roll, ensuring that they know what they’re dealing with, and what parts they might need, before arriving at the job.

“Our field crews can travel up to a day just to arrive at a network site before performing work,” Connolly said.

“With an inability to perform site visits in preparation for this work, accurate system information is critical to ensuring the correct tools, the correct materials and the correct safety plans are in place before crews depart to travel. 

“We do not want our crews … arriving at site with the inability to do work.”

The software is also increasingly used to map how renewable assets are interconnected with existing grid infrastructure.

Connolly added that Energy Queensland is also “enhancing all of our substation data to assist in the development of a true digital twin of all above-ground and underground assets”, though did not elaborate on this particular program of work.