Digital Twins for the Geothermal Industry: Theory and Practice

Abstract

The term ‘digitalisation’, currently popular in many industrial sectors, refers to the construction of computer models intended to improve production and efficiency. The ‘digital twin’ can be considered as one of the core concepts of the digitalisation, and while still at the conceptual stage for many manufacturing operations, there are examples from the power industry - such as the Digital Wind Farm from GE Renewable Energy used to optimise turbine operations, and improved maintenance planning of the EDP (Energias De Portugal) Alqueva II hydro power plant using a Digital Hydro Plant. In this paper, we will present results from our recent two projects on the concept of linking digital twins within the NZ geothermal industry. The first is dynamic modelling of a geothermal power plant, and the second is an exploration of the economic optimisation when coupling both process and reservoir simulators to provide accurate prediction of both reservoir and plant behaviours over the life time of the plant. The gaps between theory and practice are summarised and the anticipated future trends in digital twins for the benefit of the NZ geothermal industry are also highlighted.