The Enershare Concept articulates around the deployment of a trusted, secure, and sovereign level playing field for energy data sharing and exchange and a stack of cross-stakeholder data-driven services among energy and non-energy stakeholders. The initiative builds on 11 user scenarios that integrate intra-energy and cross-sector interactions. Furthermore, it includes validation through seven large-scale pilot projects. In this series of blog posts, we invite you to discover more about these pilot projects.
Digital Twins for Optimal Electricity and Natural Gas Integration
In the EU’s rapidly evolving energy landscape, integrating renewable energy sources with existing natural gas infrastructure has become paramount. ENERSHARE’s collaboration between the National Technical University of Athens’ (NTUA) Decision Support Systems Laboratory and DEPA Commercial, Greece’s leading natural gas importer, is a pilot addressing this need through the development of an advanced Digital Twin (DT) application. This initiative aims to seamlessly merge renewable electricity with natural gas sectors in Greece and the broader European Union, utilizing Power-to-Gas (P2G) technologies.
Introducing TwinP2G: Your Digital Twin for Power-to-Gas Systems
At the heart of NTUA and DEPA’s pilot lies TwinP2G, a sophisticated tool designed to provide:
- High-Precision Optimization: Efficiently design P2G systems for the production of green hydrogen, synthetic methane, and electricity via hydrogen fuel cells.
- Customizable Simulations: Through a user-friendly interface, tailor simulations to specific system specifications, including renewable energy profiles and equipment efficiencies.
- Enhanced Decision-Making: Deliver detailed techno-economic analyses to support investment strategies in modern P2G systems.
Figure 1. Electricity and natural gas energy sectors integration through Power-to-Gas systems.
Behind the Scenes: The Technical Backbone of TwinP2G
TwinP2G’s robust backend architecture is built on:
- Optimization and Simulation: Developed by NTUA’s DSS Laboratory, the backend integrates the PyPSA library for energy networks design and Linopy for linear programming, ensuring optimal, cost-effective solutions while maintaining energy grid balance and security.
- Techno-Economic Assessments: By incorporating tools like Dagster for data orchestration and DeepTSF for time-series forecasting, TwinP2G offers weekly operational forecasts, assisting investors in understanding costs, production metrics, and system performance.
- Efficient Data Management: Utilizing TimescaleDB for its time-series data capabilities and PostgreSQL compatibility, the platform ensures seamless data storage and retrieval.
Figure 2. TwinP2G Backend and Frontend
User Experience: Navigating TwinP2G’s Interface
The platform’s Frontend, crafted with Streamlit, offers accessible Dashboards: Energy Experts can explore pre-existing techno-economic analyses, while Data Scientists have the flexibility to input their specific system parameters for tailor-made techno-economic insights.
Figure 3. TwinP2G’s Dashboard UI
Security Measures: Ensuring Safe Access
To protect user data and system integrity, the pilot’s TwinP2G incorporates Identity and Access Management: Integration with Keycloak ensures proper user identification, authentication and authorization, safeguarding resources based on user roles.
ENERSHARE Data Marketplace and App Store
The App further seamlessly connects with ENERSHARE’s Data Marketplace and App Store, providing users with a dynamic wider energy-sector data sharing platform for exchanging valuable energy data. By leveraging this integration, users can effortlessly access datasets from EnerShare’s Data Space, promoting collaborative decision-making and a thriving shared energy knowledge ecosystem. This feature enhances TwinP2G’s deployability by enabling data-driven projects to tap into readily available resources, paving the way for smarter data-driven investments in Power-to-Gas technologies and innovative developments in the wider energy sector.
Real-World Impact: Advancing the EU’s Energy Transition
Through the cross-sector data-driven insights provided by TwinP2G, NTUA and DEPA’s ENERSHARE pilot is contributing significantly to the EU’s ambitious energy goals:
- Cost Reduction and Efficiency: The pilot facilitates the successful integration of electricity and natural gas sectors in Greece and in the EU, leading to lower energy costs and increased energy efficiency.
- Promotion of P2G Technologies: Optimization-based investment simulations encourage the adoption of P2G solutions, which can provide energy security and autonomy.
- Support for Renewable Integration: Increasing the share of renewable energy in Greece’s and the EU’s energy mix contributes to measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Impact on Research: the Pilot as a Catalyst for Research on Power-to-Gas Systems
The Pilot has further spurred academic research on Power-to-Gas systems, resulting in publications such as:
- “TwinP2G: A digital twin architecture for optimal power-to-gas planning”
- “Towards innovative power-to-gas investments in Greece: Novel simulation scenarios and assessment framework”
- “Enhancing Green Financing through AI Analytics and Cross-Domain Data Sharing”
- “Renewable hydrogen blending into urban natural gas grids with power-to-gas: A techno-economic assessment for Greece”
Collaborative Efforts: The Team Behind TwinP2G
The Pilot is part of ENERSHARE project for an EU energy Data Space, and a joint effort of:
- NTUA DSS Laboratory: Providing expertise in decision support systems and systems optimization.
- DEPA Commercial: Leveraging extensive experience in natural gas operations and strategy.
Explore TwinP2G Today
📌 For a hands-on experience with TwinP2G, try it on ENERSHARE App Store: TwinP2G
📌 For further details on the Pilot and TwinP2G, contact Hercules Koutalidis @ EPU-NTUA