Atos has announced it has worked with National Grid to deliver an award-winning Digital Twin and Data Visualisation tool designed to accelerate electricity network planning and support the UK’s decarbonisation goals.

National Grid lies at the heart of the energy system in the UK and US, moving energy from where it’s made to where it’s needed, safely, securely and reliably. Whether through innovation with National Grid Partners or investing in tech start-ups, the organisation works to maintain power for homes, businesses and communities.

The Digital Twin, known as Triton, creates a digital replica of National Grid’s physical infrastructure and brings together thousands of datasets from across the network. This allows National Grid to model future electricity demand, run network scenarios and make faster, more informed decisions on where to reinforce the grid.

Owen Wilkes, network design director at National Grid, said, “Triton demonstrates how innovation, data and technology can drive positive change and accelerate progress towards our decarbonisation goals. Through our collaboration with Atos we have created a product that will enable National Grid to virtually model scenarios for how, when and where we expand our network and services to meet increased demand for energy, ensuring we continue to deliver a resilient, future-ready electricity network.”

According to a release from the firms, Triton will “enable National Grid to accelerate how it plans the future electricity network and support the significant increase in energy demand required to achieve Great Britain’s decarbonisation goals”. Triton is said to have this capability, because it will create a digital replica of National Grid’s physical infrastructure and designing Triton to process and manage this data, National Grid will be able to run network scenarios that significantly accelerate planning, reducing the time needed to analyse and decide on where to reinforce the network by 70%.

Graham Scanlon, head of critical national infrastructure for Atos in the UK and Ireland said, “This tool will improve efficiency and remove risk for National Grid. They can now make smart data-based decisions quickly. We’re pleased to have been able to support both on their current operations and needs but also on their future business. We are continually innovating on how to use technology to meet the challenge of climate change and shifting geo-political winds.”

Atos is a global IT and digital transformation firm. With around 63,000 employees and annual revenue of €8 billion, the firm specialises in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, offering tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. The firm has undergone a dramatic restructuring in recent months – having purported to have had 82,000 employees and annual revenue of €10 billion just 12 months ago.

Atos and National Grid create digital twins for UK electricity network

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