The Digital Twin Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo) moves to a new phase

The Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo), a digital twin project first started in 2021, has moved into its second phase, now led by Connected Places Catapult. 

I last reported on the CReDo project in Spring 2022, shortly after the first phase had completed.  

In phase 1, our aim was to develop a digital twin of assets from Anglian Water, BT and UK Power Networks, and to investigate and model the cascade effects of assets across different infrastructures. For example, if power was lost, pumping stations could fail, and communications could fail. In phase 1, we focused on flood modelling and the failure models used were relatively straightforward – if an asset wasdry it was working, if was wet, it was not working. 

Data held on DAFNI, the Data & Analytics Platform for National Infrastructure, covers detail such as ground elevation, water sources, precipitation, and drainage. Maps included in the modelling show individual power station assets and communications infrastructure to a fine scale, allowing researchers to model the situation under average rainfall, as well as to identify the impact of a one in 100 or one in 1000 years ‘extreme climatic’ event. 

As well as the real-life data for East Anglia, CReDo includes a synthetic dataset that’s available to any user and allows researchers outside the project to examine how they might build on CReDo and DAFNI for their own research. Developed by CMCL, it was designed to have features like the real data but with fictitious locations. 

In the second phase of work we have expanded into more sophisticated failure models around flooding, and have added the variable of extreme heat. We are also now working more with Ofgem and Ofwat data – on the energy and water side.  

There is cross pollination across energy and water. Both Ofgem and Ofwat are interested in the effects of heat, for example. If there are several days of unusually hot weather, what happens to your water pumping station? The processes could degrade, not necessarily fail, so now our modelling has been developed to be able to take into account more sophisticated impacts such as degradation rather than simply working/not working. The basic principle from phase 1, of investigating cascade effects across networks still applies. 

DAFNI continues as the trusted platform which allows the project’s “integration” based on asset owner data – assessing impacts of cascade failures from one infrastructure to another.  

The project is now reaching out to further electricity and water companies, and network operators, to encourage them to become part of this essential digital twin.