Endesa's grid subsidiary, e-distribucion has deployed 50 teams in Catalonia, Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Extremadura to complete the Network Digital Twin project worth $43.24 million to help digitalization of 144,000 distribution centers, 90,000 km of high- and medium-voltage overhead lines and 1,311 substations over three years.
Around a third of the components making up the digital twin of the subsidiary are expected to be digitalized in 2023 with an investment of $15.35 million. While Endesa has a network of lines over an area of more than 195,000 km, the subsidiary distributed 43% of the overall electricity reaching end consumers in Spain.
A digital twin helps reduce restoration times and improves customer service quality, thereby delivering a more efficient grid to smooth the energy transition process, the integration of renewables and the development of electric mobility. The possibility of remote working reduces planning times for grid maintenance, improvement tasks and avoids requirement of worker trips to the company’s facilities, helping minimize its carbon footprint.
High- and medium-voltage overhead lines are digitalized from helicopters as well as transformers to create the digital twin. The components are represented virtually and connected with sensors, while the information is transmitted through IoT data networks, thus enabling the digital model to operate remotely.
The digitalization of grid’s components allows workers to remotely consult the cloud of points of each process, which measures minute things and displays 360º photos, facilitating any work remotely. Additionally, the detailed photographs of the name plates of the inventoried items and the labels with their barcode help identify each component throughout its life, despite a changed location and hence assists in inventory management.
Endesa strategy prioritizes development of the distribution grid, which helps drive the energy transition to enable integrating increased renewable generation, electric mobility and self-consumption.
