Porvoon Energia is a Finnish energy company with over 2,000 properties and around 35,000 electricity customers. The company signed a 5-year deal with Gradyent to build a Digital Twin solution that would provide real-time optimization and reduce the risk of CAPEX expenditures, preparing the company for future integration of sustainable heating sources. 

Challenge 

Porvoon Energia is implementing a major investment program aimed at futureproofing the heating system. To achieve that, the company is decommissioning an old biomass CHP and installing a new 12 MW heat pump, with ambitions to add more decentralised sources to the network.  

These adjustments will greatly enhance the system's complexity. Porvoon Energia concluded that the current systems for scheduling source dispatch, managing temperature and pressure in the heating grid, and monitoring user performance were insufficient.  

Solution 

Porvoon Energia identified Gradyent as the sole vendor of a Digital Twin solution capable of offering live optimisation to manage its network's expanding complexity.  

Gradyent's Digital Twin provides a real-time digital copy of the entire heating network, integrating geographical, weather, and sensor data with physics-based models and AI. The solution allows for the investigation of potential further temperature reduction without affecting customer heating.  

Results 

Real-time optimisation   

The Digital Twin allowed the study of the local effect of temperature and hydraulics on specific users as well as the impact on the entire network and power plants. Multiple dynamic simulations were performed to cover the entire year and examine the effect at the level of each user, pipe and production unit in the network. This would be extremely challenging to accomplish using a conventional offline parametrised model.  

Porvoon Energia will maximise the performance of the newly installed heat pump by lowering network forward temperatures. Increasing the heat pump's COP will enhance efficiency and allow the network to function with more sustainable sources that perform better at lower temperatures. 

The Digital Twin will also assist in the operation of the heating system over the upcoming heating season by lowering the forward temperature of the two primary CHPs in the Tolkinnen area and preparing for heat pump integration. 

De-risking CAPEX investments 

Porvoon Energia was searching for a system that would allow them to conduct numerous what-if scenarios and design studies. On this front, the Digital Twin will enable the analysis of numerous scenarios to determine the technical feasibility of incorporating the new heat pump into the network. This involves determining the influence on network hydraulics and arrival temperatures, as well as guaranteeing supply security in each scenario analysis.  

The evaluations would eventually demonstrate the potential benefits of incorporating the new heat pump into the network, as well as other low-temperature sustainable sources in the future. 

“We’re proud to work with such an innovative company that is undergoing a deep and comprehensive transformation and support its mission of real-time end-to-end optimisation towards greater network efficiency.” 

Daniel Frank, Director Nordics & Baltics at Gradyent