Learnings

Outcomes

The project has delivered the second phase of activity, providing us the basis for the digital twin – the virtual twin and the data twin.  The development of the virtual twin has been aligned with our reopener activity “digital construction” and learning has been shared across the programmes. In future phases we plan to utilise the digital construction ecosystem to enable a trial run of our ‘business as usual’ system development. The data twin has provided a base to discuss internal data storage systems and how the business separation could look to improve our data structures as we migrate out of previous systems. The end result for the project has created a project space for FutureGrid that aligns to our current internal structures but also considers locational aspects and begins to support the integration with GIS and virtual twin information.                                                                                                                             

Value tracking

•        Maturity - TRL has increased from 3 to 5. We have produced the virtual and data twin elements of the digital twin and identified the methods for connecting the two systems.  These have been demonstrated offline to provide confidence for future phase development. 

•        Opportunity – 100% & multiple asset classes. The solution is deployed on all assets but easier to deploy on AGIs and Compressor stations as these have above ground assets that make it easier to accurately locate the facilities against drawing data. 

•        Deployment cost - £1,000,000. The cost of deploying the full system is in discussion with IT team, the virtual twin elements are underway through the digital construction reopener and the data elements are already in development at NGT.  Once these base systems are fully operational, various APIs can interact with the data to extract data and provide insights.  This makes the cost of the API development very competitive and dependant on the use case it is supplying. Therefor individual business cases are being developed for each use case to demonstrate the value for each API.

•        Innovation cost - The cost for developing this strategy is high due to the number of project partners and the complexity of managing both the FutureGrid facility requirements and our business as usual deployment. However, it will provide value in reducing the cost of deploying OEM solutions that cannot provide the full functionality required and tie us into single source solutions.

•        Financial saving – Currently estimated as £10,000,000. This will be proven in the next phase where the system is migrated into NGT in-house. Cost avoidance in deploying unsuitable solutions – direct. Costs savings in construction projects and asset management due to accurate data accessibility and offline rehearsal – indirect

•        Safety – There will be huge opportunities in improving safety of both construction and management of the network through the ability to access accurate information quickly and rehearsing activities, this becomes more important as we move to hydrogen and processes and procedures will be updated. 

•        Environmental - Environmental impact could be assessed more readily for new projects and in an accelerated manner.

•        Compliance – Support Compliance. There is a limited regulatory impact, obviously data accessibility will enable the internal teams to provide insight to Ofgem more readily and should improve the ability to communicate complex project activities.

•        Skills & Competencies - Business wide. Skills and competencies will be improved across the business with a greater wealth of knowledge at each employees finger tips and an easier level of accessibility.  Whilst this will be the case, we will need to build capabilities not yet in the business such as 3D modelling and data analytics to manage change and drive improvements in the system.

Future Proof – Indicated on the business strategy. This project is aligned to the gathering and management of network data in the transition to hydrogen.  Much of this information has not been required for the management of the designed natural gas system, however, when considering hydrogen repurposing and the potential for new connections much of the original design data needs to be readily available.

Lessons Learnt

The project has many technical learning points to enable future workstreams.  These lessons have been built into the proposal for the phase 2 project defined and shared.

Several project management lessons were identified through the project, such as:

·       Refining regular communication sessions throughout the project at an early stage and encouraging more face-to-face meetings.

·       Engagement with business stakeholders whilst the company was transitioning to being a separate entity led to variation in the guidance provided due to the business change.

·       Some difficulty was encountered when dealing with different sources of information that contained varied, and sometimes conflicting data, and metadata about systems, assets and sensors. The project could have benefitted from having created, at the very beginning, a consensus on what the finite and complete list of all systems, assets and sensors that would be the scope of the FutureGrid site and its digital twin.

·       Lack of clarity on the detailed of the requirements leading to a lack of a prior understanding of what the cross-partner dependencies were. Initial workshop to address all requirements and gain detailed introspection of what they entail from a stakeholder’s perspective.

·       A lot of time spent synchronising the data from the varied sources and partners due to lack of agreement on what the systems and assets metadata are (e.g. naming, location, sensor position, etc) and the required/desired data structures. Initial workshop can be allocated to gain concurrence from all partners on all the data being collected and presented in the digital twin.

·       Version Control - standards and reports version changes leading to outdated information. Closer engagement with internal stakeholders in the future phases to ensure the version control is considered within Data Assurance work pack. 

No significant problems were discovered whilst the project was “in flight”, but as a positive reinforcement of the project strategy it was noted that breaking the CVDT project into phases allows the project team to reassess objectives and strategies in between phases in order to constantly provide the most appropriate solution.  

·       Another key benefit realised on the project is the continuation of the project team across phases, as intercompany relationships are established along with a better understanding of each project partner’s capabilities and innovation opportunities – allowing for the exploration of more innovation and innovative solutions as part of the project. 

·       National Gas (and the UK energy sector) to continue to realise the benefits of digital twins, a clear roadmap and delivery plan will be required, showing how a problem is typically solved and the improvements that can be gained from using a digital twin approach. These future use cases have been discussed throughout the project.

Development of a standardised process for the qualification and assurance for digital twin functional elements should be implemented along with comprehensive risk management system for CVDT and other digital twin technology. Digitalisation Framework has been developed under this project and will be adapted in the next phase of study.