Digital twins are being integrated into operations across the UK North Sea and not just in the oil and gas industry. The offshore wind sector, an increasingly important part of the regional economy, is particularly suited to asset modelling using digital twins to enhance performance and anticipate the need for equipment upgrades.
To that end, Fathom, an Aberdeen-based marine engineering services and software firm, has just launched an Internet of Things-enabled digital twin platform for offshore wind operations, in collaboration with IT and business consultancy CGI.
They say the platform will cut the cost of generating wind energy and improve the viability of offshore projects in the North Sea and beyond by enabling more efficient operations and maintenance decisions, improving asset life prediction, and influencing future design improvements.
Richard McGowan, Managing Director of Fathom, said the IoT platform which CGI had developed for them would enable huge volumes of data to be stored securely and processed efficiently, allowing its system to deliver rapid, actionable insights to asset management teams and asset owners.
“With 30% of total lifetime costs of offshore windfarms attributed to operations and maintenance activities, this technology can take a significant step towards reducing the levelized cost of energy for this sector as well as improving the viability of offshore wind projects, which are major enablers in meeting global net zero targets,” he said.
The platform allows users to collect real-time data from sensors on offshore windfarm assets and structures, for further processing through Fathom’s algorithms. The data collected and processed can then be called up on Fathom’s web-based software, which includes a structural 3d-displayer and dashboards.
Fathom said part-funding of the project by Scottish Enterprise underlined its value to the industry. Fathom was one of ten innovating Scottish companies that won funding through the Launch Academy Scotland programme, having been selected in late 2024 by an industry-backed technology accelerator – the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.
Underestimated benefits
The company also drew attention to a recent survey from Swedish-based tech firm Hexagon on Digital Twin deployment across industrial sectors, which found a gap between perceptions of businesses using digital twins and those yet to adopt the technology.
“One message resonates loud and clear from our findings: digital twins deliver far greater value than leaders expect,” Hexagon said in the report.
Although 44% 𝘰𝘧 those using digital twins reported benefits in terms of enhanced team coordination and communication, only 19% of non-users anticipated significant collaboration benefits. Similar gaps between perception and reality surrounding digital twins were reported in areas such as proactive problem-solving and operational reliability.
Respondents also said they had made gains around sustainability through digital twin use, with 38% of organisations seeing carbon emissions fall to a large extent after implementing digital twins in relevant areas, reporting an average reduction of 15%. Only 23% of those not using digital twins that think their use can significantly cut emissions.
The strong link between AI and digital twins was also highlighted in the report, with 80% of leaders surveyed said AI had made them more interested in digital twins.
Hexagon said the two technologies seemed intrinsically linked. AI is already a key feature in digital twins, with the most prevalent use cases being processing of front-end data and enhancing the user experience.
“While challenges exist, organisations that have integrated digital twins are seeing real, positive results,” Hexagon said.
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