The shift in the energy landscape is creating new opportunities for utilities and energy companies to design, build, operate, and maintain their infrastructure more efficiently, which is crucial as the demand for cleaner, more reliable energy grows.
The rapid growth in the global energy sector is not just apparent in record-breaking demand, but also in the investments being made. The International Energy Agency (IEC) estimates that USD 3 trillion was spent globally on energy projects in 2024. Two-thirds of this amount was spent on renewable energy projects, and about USD 1 trillion was spent on energy infrastructure. The IEC report also states that energy delivery, which has been a bottleneck for many years, is now becoming a key part of the global energy transition.
As energy companies focus on meeting today’s demands, what are they doing to design differently and build better for an energy-intensive future?
Building Better Infrastructure with Cutting-edge Tech
Creating an energy-intensive future starts with designing more efficient infrastructure. Today, there is technology that unlocks the value of investment in digital infrastructure (like smart grids) and the data that it generates.
In this data-rich environment, energy companies can now design and manage assets and entire infrastructure assets throughout their lifecycle, from design to construction to operations and maintenance. Energy infrastructure designers and engineers are using robust platforms that integrate different systems and data sources for complete management of their assets.
“With the current energy demand growth, the energy sector is at an inflection point. The design and engineering solutions space is also entering new frontiers, commented Brad Johnson, director of energy solutions at Bentley Systems. “We are now at a point where integrating traditionally disparate systems and leveraging data from these digital infrastructures is no longer a concept. It is an operational reality.”
An example of this capability is the iTwin Platform from Bentley. iTwin is an open platform that can integrate various types of data from different sources.
For instance, if a utility, developer, or engineering firm is designing and managing a wind farm, the iTwin Platform can bring together all the geospatial data, subsurface data, and equipment data for each wind turbine to provide a complete view of the wind farm infrastructure. This leads to more efficient design, engineering, and operations processes.
Taking this example further, in the design of new transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure that includes the wind farm mentioned above as part of a larger energy solution, incorporating geospatial and SCADA data will result in a more effectively engineered T&D solution.
Building Better in Practice
Consider the experience at COPEL Distribuição S.A, a Brazilian utility serving over five million customers and managing over 200,000 kilometers of distribution lines. Looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their design and engineering processes, COPEL leadership launched a digital initiative to incorporate all aspects of substation design, integrating civil, electro-mechanical, and electrical engineering processes. COPEL management also identified the need to establish digital document management, recognizing that digital design could not succeed without providing easy access to needed information.
Using a suite of Bentley design and engineering tools, including ProjectWise and OpenUtilities, COPEL managers and engineers have seen the development time for the mechanical elements of electrical substations fall by 50%, or 225 work hours, and development time for electrical elements has fallen by 30%, or 195 work hours. This adds up to savings USD 630,000 per year in project execution.
Bentley's OpenUtilities Designer helps utilities intelligently design electrical systems and substations using current engineering codes and standards. It integrates with common GIS systems, allowing utilities to refine designs and calculate costs simultaneously. This integration ensures that utilities can maintain network models and maps within the design application, lowering the cost of ownership and avoiding project delays.
Bentley's solutions also support the energy transition by modernizing and decarbonizing aging energy production and delivery infrastructure. For example, Hubei Energy Group deployed massive solar arrays in challenging terrains, cutting emissions and saving resources. Keystone Engineering optimized designs for the United States’ first offshore wind farm, cutting costs by 20%.
Mark Biagi, senior director for energy solutions at Bentley, noted that, “these are just two examples of how the design and engineering landscape is changing…for the better. Leveraging a utility’s digital infrastructure and the data it delivers opens up countless new possibilities for improved efficiency and accuracy across the design and engineering lifecycle.”
More to Come…
This blog is the first in a series that explores how utilities, developers, and engineering firms are living the “Design Differently and Build Better” credo with advanced design and engineering tools and solutions in an open environment. The blogs are accompanied by an Energy Central PowerSession webinar coming later this year. More to come…
For more info on some of the design and engineering tools and solutions mentioned in this blog, please visit Bentley's electric utilities and energy production pages.