T&D World: Get Ahead of Wildfires with a Digital Twin

Robert Brook is SVP and GM Americas at Neara and has spent more than 30 years in the energy and information technology industries and is a recognized expert in the development and implementation of technology for infrastructure and asset management as well as risk mitigation.

Neara shares how digital twin technology can mitigate wildfire risk & help ensure the safety of communities.

Wildfires present a major challenge for utilities. Devastating wildfires often can be caused by their own infrastructure, so utilities have a critical responsibility to manage risk presented by their network. Utilities also have an obligation to ensure the safety of affected communities during a wildfire event.

Some utilities are taking advantage of new technologies to mitigate wildfire risk. For example, digital twin technology can create a highly accurate 3-D model of an entire network, which — when combined with other data sets — can be used to accurately model risk relating to the network and its surroundings.

One digital twin technology being adopted by utilities in the wildfire-prone parts of Australia is Neara. This physics-enabled platform builds 3-D interactive models of critical infrastructure networks and assets, providing the ability to run real-world scenarios, assess current and future risks, and prioritize network investment, maintenance and disaster response. Here are some ways digital twin technology is helping utilities to manage wildfire risk.

This article appears on the T&D World website. Read the full article here.