Digital twinning enables companies to replicate physical assets, providing model scenarios to optimise everything from production to maintenance in real-time.
This comprehensive approach allows operators to make the most out of data collected from their production processes, the amount of which has significantly increased as various of sensors become more widespread.
While various industrial applications of digital twinning technologies are being developed, full twins of various energy and maritime operations are slowly emerging.
A recent example is Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) launching its first maritime digital twin in March. The aim is to optimise port operations, improve energy efficiency, and reduce emissions, with pilot testing starting in the second half of this year.
Developed by MPA in partnership with a Singaporean government agency, the twin is a simulation that integrates real-time data from vessels, port operations and environmental sensors. It uses AI and predictive analytics to enhance decision-making and improve maritime operations management.
The digital twin also enhances safety management and emergency response by supporting risk assessments and modelling incidents, such as oil spills or the accidental release of gases into the atmosphere.
Notably, companies and researchers will be able to collaborate with the MPA and use the digital twin to develop and test new operating concepts and procedures, as well as other digital solutions, before deploying them.
The MPA also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to trial the use of AI and digital twins, to further enhance safety through optimised vessel route planning.
Paired with AI and data analytics, digital twins will enhance asset performance, improve safety and risk management, optimise operations and workflows, and enable remote monitoring and control.
They can be applied across entire operations and chains, boosting productivity by combining information, simulation, and visualisation, while also offering a sustainable model for both well construction and operation.
Noting how Internet of Things (IoT) devices had become an important data source and organisations had spent years investing in the technology, PwC said insights gained from IoT were still largely visualised and presented in charts, diagrams or tables.
Data harvested from physical environments, such as sensors monitoring water or air quality deployed at certain locations or 360-degree-view smart cameras, provide limited insight in their default form, PwC explained. In those instances, spatial and temporal settings, alongside any readings, footage or signals, need to be considered.
PwC said: “To better understand the operation, perhaps where there may be anomalies or alarms, the actual physical environment needs to be reproduced in some form. This is where a digital twin earns its keep.
“This enhanced level of visibility helps boost productivity – it’s far richer than a static chart or table with numbers.” Akselos, in collaboration with classification society the
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), completed a technical assessment for structural digital twin technology in May, which will bolster safety and minimise downtime for floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facilities.
Matt Tremblay, Senior Vice President Global Offshore at ABS, said the collaboration reinforced the role of digital twin technology in the future of offshore structural integrity management.
He said: “By combining real-time operational data with advanced simulation, [the solution enables] a more predictive and performance-based approach to asset management – fully aligned with the industry’s drive toward safer, more efficient operations.”
Being complex and capital-intensive assets, FPSOs are often required to perform far beyond their original design life, which the new twinning solution addresses directly by enabling the prediction of stress and fatigue in FPSOs before failures occur.
The collaborative solution – called structural performance management software – provided a high-fidelity, near-real-time digital twin of the entire FPSO, giving operators a live, continuous view of structural performance through combining inspection records, metocean conditions, and cargo operations into one dynamic model.
“This data-driven approach can significantly improve operational cash flow by reducing operational expenditure by up to 35 per cent, minimising both planned and unplanned downtime, reducing inspection and maintenance costs, and enhancing safety by limiting human exposure in hazardous operational areas.
“This ultimately unlocks hundreds of millions of dollars in value through extended FPSO life and avoided production losses.”
The efficiency and optimisation benefits derived by digitising operations within a digital twin can also be easily refocused towards sustainability initiatives and better emissions management.
Digital twinning enables companies to collate and easily access data, comply with any relevant regulatory reporting, as well as identify and develop more effective decarbonisation strategies.
Simon Bennett, Head of Research and Innovation at industrial software provider AVEVA, said there were several use cases for digital twins across the industrial complex, but incremental moves toward adoption were being seen in the energy sector.
He said: “There are two facets to this – the first being that the energy sector is under pressure to decarbonise and focus on sustainability, while the second is all about improving throughput and margins, and lowering costs.
“Ultimately, it’s not just about decarbonisation but helping [operators] see their sustainability outcomes more clearly.”
Together with IoT, the advance of next-generation technologies such as AI and data analytics will drive the global market for digital twins to more than US$150 billion by 2030, according to GlobalData.
Analysing enterprise-wide data can be complex as it exists across multiple systems, databases and sites, which must be brought together under a digital twin to generate a complete digital picture.
Pinky Hiranandani, Senior Thematic Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, noted that standardising data formats, communication protocols, and interfaces for a seamless integration across different platforms, software, and hardware was required for digital twins to communicate with each other effectively.
She said: “Efforts are underway to address these challenges, but achieving full interoperability requires collaboration among industry stakeholders, technology providers, and standardisation bodies.
“Companies can take a modular approach to implementing digital twins, allowing for small successes that can then be replicated at scale.
“Defining clear objectives and use cases and having a solid data governance and security foundation will be essential to realise the benefits of digital twins.”
