The Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport (SMWA) nominates Tilia’s digital twin “4DigiTwin” for the “Saxon Digital Award 2024”
Leipzig/Dresden, 15.04.2024 – The Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport (SMWA) is awarding the “Saxon Digital Prize” for the second time. State Minister Martin Dulig will honor the winners on June 10, 2024 during the digital conference “forum sachsen digital” at the exhibition and event park in Löbau. The focus of this year’s award ceremony is on “Digital solutions in the field of raw materials and energy”. Exemplary achievements were sought that drive forward the digital transformation in Saxony and provide impetus for the use of digital solutions through the use of modern, innovative technologies.
A jury of experts appointed by the SMWA selected the nominees in the categories “Society”, “Economy” and “Open Source” from the applications received. The online public voting will start on April 15, 2024 at 12:00 noon, where places 1 to 3 will be awarded. Citizens have the opportunity to vote for their favorite until April 30, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
The project descriptions of the submitted entries can be found on the website of the Saxon Digital Prize 2024.
Vote for our project here: to the voting
"With our digital twin, we are providing support for operators of heating and water networks in particular. Detailed knowledge of these infrastructures is extremely important for the heating transition. In this way, their effectiveness and longevity can be increased and the effects of optimizations and investments can be assessed in advance. This will make the heating transition easier to plan and more affordable. In future, 4DigiTwin will also be used to manage electricity grids and perhaps even transportation grids - these are the next developments we will be tackling."
Christophe Hug, CEO Tilia GmbH
Good to know!
“4DigiTwin” – what the digital twin does
A digital twin is a dynamic, virtual copy of a physical asset, process, system or environment that looks and behaves exactly like its real-life counterpart.
Our digital twin is software that simulates physical energy systems – such as heating or water networks – and thus enables demand-based management.
It is based on network data measured by sensors and external sources that provide information on environmental influences or market developments, among other things. 4DigiTwin structures this data and presents it in the form of maps and tables.
These evaluations not only enable simultaneous monitoring and thus surveillance of the system, but also very in-depth analysis. In addition, the software learns from, for example, load curves, different temporal demand curves or natural influences and recognizes patterns.
Profile-based clustering allows homogeneous customer groups to be identified based on their load profiles. 4DigiTwin also offers a user-friendly cockpit that displays analyses using various metrics, heat maps and anomaly detection.
This enables optimization of operations, production and procurement.
What makes the software so innovative?
Existing products on the market currently only offer expert systems with a limited area of application. They are too small-scale and limited to one building or a homogeneous group of buildings/apartments. Other approaches only look at individual or a few sectors of the energy system in isolation. This does not adequately reflect today’s market reality.
In order to optimize and control energy generation, energy consumption and energy storage in entire districts, a holistic process approach is required. The unique 4DigiTwin concept makes this possible through process and network modeling using a digital twin combined with a 4D control concept. It offers a platform that can simulate districts regardless of their composition, including through the use of self-learning algorithms.
4DigiTwin is therefore suitable for districts with a heterogeneous building stock and functionally integrates both sector coupling and prosumers (i.e. consumers that are also energy producers). In the future, this will not only enable the simple integration of balcony PV systems for energy generation, for example, but also the consideration of e-vehicles as storage buffers.
At the same time, the platform is open across manufacturers and operators in order to address different customer and user groups. As long as there is data access, any grid can be mapped by 4DigiTwin.
What is the added value for society?
4DigiTwin can determine the operation of a network not only on the basis of economic, but also environmental and social targets. The optimum mode of operation is precisely the combination of energy sources, generators and storage systems that best covers a previously calculated consumption forecast in accordance with the defined target parameters.
This strengthens security of supply and self-sufficiency, not least by making it easier to take smaller, decentralized energy producers and storage systems into account. This not only strengthens the “pure” consumer, but also the role of prosumers in particular, who now have more control over their energy supply thanks to extensive analysis and simulation options.
What happens next?
Several additional functionalities are also planned. These include variable prediction granularity, multi-parameter analysis and clustering, extended visualization of technical systems and analyses as well as simulations with changed parameters. In addition, an agnostic approach was pursued in software development from the outset. This makes it relatively easy to transfer the platform logic to other types of networks, e.g. water or rail networks.
How was 4DigiTwin developed?
Tilia worked with partners from industry and research to implement the project. KET Kirpal Energietechnik GmbH Anlagenbau & Co. KG and PAL Prozessautomation Leipzig GmbH & Co. KG were involved. The Leipzig University of Applied Sciences supported the development as a research partner and NetLume/idatase GmbH was responsible for implementing the platform. As a first concrete use case, we have jointly modeled, analyzed and simulated the heating network in the Schkeuditz demonstration district.
