USING digital twin technology that creates virtual replicas or simulations of water utilities can result in up to 30% energy cost and carbon savings, and increased productivity with reduced maintenance.
“Digital twin technology can be used to replicate processes, and data is used to predict how these processes will perform, ” said Frost & Sullivan director (environment and building technologies, Asia-Pacific) Melvin Leong during his “Digital sustainability to drive adoption of digital twin solutions in water and buildings industry in 2021” presentation at the recent #digitalXdata 2020 live virtual conference.
Digital twin in water industry
“Essentially, digital twin creates an enhanced operational experience for water utilities, with real-time performance dashboards, advanced automation and many more.
“The goal is to create a secure and connected water utility, informed decisions, optimise plant performance, and actionable results, ” said Leong.
He pointed out that this can lead to operational expenditure savings of billions of dollars a year.
“And that is a lot of money for future investments and improvements such as replacement of distribution pipes and water source production, ” said Leong.
He noted that research shows that the digital twin technology market in the global water industry was worth US$416mil in 2019.
However, due to the global economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, market growth declined to 21.7% in 2020, from 38.6% in 2019.
“In my opinion, it is still a fairly good growth rate.
“Moving forward, this technology is expected to gain momentum in the global water industry.
“We forecast the market to reach almost US$2.9bil by 2026. And that is a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of above 30% from 2019 to 2026, ” said Leong.
He also pointed out that another growth opportunity for digital twin solution providers is smart city development projects, which emphasise sustainability solutions as a top priority.
Digital twin solution providers in the water industry include Xylem, Innovyze, Black and Veatch, Siemens, Trimble, Veolia, Suez, and Envirosuite.
Leong also noted that while digital twin solutions are mostly focused on asset improvements to increase operations’ efficiency and energy savings, there is no one-size fits all solution.
“Issues such as water loss, distribution efficiency, consumption and water source pollution are very unique challenges by location and culture. The opportunity is on how digital twin technology can be designed and customised to suit the needs of any water utility, ” he said.
Buildings industry digitalisation
As for the buildings industry, Leong said advanced economies like Japan have a very high digital adoption rate in construction.
Also, Malaysia scores better in digital construction adoption when compared with South-East Asian countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand,
Leong said the construction industry is already seeing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, 3D printing, digital twin, augmented reality, laser scanning, big data analytics, drones and robotics.
“These technologies give positive impact to the construction industry in terms of operational efficiency and, overall accuracy of processes.”
He also explained that the future will see cognitive buildings that enable deep learning and occupant behaviour, including occupancy rates and occupant movements.
“This will use autonomous intelligence, whereby decisions are made with very little or no human interference, ” he said.
The development of cognitive buildings in the future will be supported by digital twin and building information modelling (BIM) technologies.
“When BIM is combined with digital twin, a 3D static model will become a dynamic model.
“And the visualisation of digital twin will enable real-time building life-cycle management from design to construction, and to operations.
“When we use them – BIM and digital twin – in a green building, this combination can help achieve sustainability targets as well, ” said Leong.
BIM and digital twin technologies will play an important role in the area of net zero energy buildings (one which produces as much energy as it uses annually).
Also, sustainability goals in the buildings industry will provide opportunities that can lead to the BIM and digital twin market hitting over US$13bil by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 14.5%.
Leong also said notable projects in Malaysia which used digital twin technology included the Pan Borneo Highway and completed phases of the mass rapid transit (MRT).
“Digital twin is already here – in the design, and simulation of the future operations and maintenance of the Pan Borneo Highway.”
Leong was among the speakers at the recent #digitalXdata 2020 live virtual conference, which was aimed at helping companies solve business challenges and uncover growth opportunities by redesigning a data-driven digital future.
The event showcased the market outlook and forecast for 2021 and beyond in the areas of technology, digital and analytics.
There were eight main tracks, namely, Smart City, Retail, People, Financial, Drone, Reach, Green and Manufacturing.
The four-day programme was powered by panel discussions on Designing Society 5.0, Gearing Towards Business 2021, Re-Engineering Security in the Next Normal and Empowering Future-Ready Youth.
#digitalXdata 2020 was organised by Star Media Group Bhd
with Fusionex as Exabyte Partner and Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young, Frost & Sullivan, Ipsos, Kantar, McKinsey and PwC as Knowledge Partners.
The live virtual conference was held on Dec 1 till 4 over Cisco Webex.
The playback of the sessions can be watched at StarBiz Facebook, The Star LinkedIn or Youtube.
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