4D digital twin to capture Tasmanian energy infrastructure

Enzen Australia and 42-24 have launched Virtual Tas, a joint venture (JV) that will develop, refresh and serve a 4D digital twin of Tasmania’s above-ground infrastructure, built and natural environments.

The JV has been formed between Enzen Australia, which provides advisory, engineering services and solutions for the power, water, gas and renewable energy sectors, alongside Tasmanian state-owned enterprise 42-24.

James Bangay, head of digital at Enzen Australia, said: “The energy transition demands real-time visibility of operations and deeper real-time knowledge of the interdependence between all infrastructures.

“Virtual Tas integrates a range of data sources and digital solutions, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), satellite data, aerial footage, high resolution photography, Big Data modelling and real-time sensed data from Internet of Things LoraWAN networks.

“The outcome is a virtual world view of spatial data at high efficiency and low cost. The Virtual Tas model can be replicated across different utilities and states in Australia, and will help accelerate the country’s transition to the smarter energy systems of the future.”

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Virtual Tas has also established a 10-year foundation customer partnership with TasNetworks to provide digital twin services, aiming to enable it to transform its asset management and improve economic and community resilience to natural disasters.

Its goal is to also enhance the quality of power supply to Tasmanians, all in a sustainable and affordable way. It aims to drive economic growth in the state by giving its businesses and communities access to the data so they can make smarter infrastructure decisions.

Ian McLeod, head of smart energy and water at Enzen Australia and board director of Virtual Tas, stated in announcement:

“Some elements of the technology have been used for specific purposes within Australia and worldwide, but this will be the first time a whole state has been captured at such high resolution for the specific purposes of supplying high quality data and services across multiple business sectors enabling greater cross-sector collaboration.”

Virtual Tas is based on Enzen’s digital reality platform, a cloud-based, AI-powered, end-to-end geospatial analytics solution that generates intelligent insights of utility assets in real-time.