How Europe is re-wiring its power grid with open source digital twins

Traditional electric utility planning and management software was never designed for the complexity required for onboarding dynamic energy systems like wind and solar, nor the more dynamic nature of data centers and electric cars. European utility operators have begun adopting PowSyBl and Power Grid Model, open-source modeling tools that might help.

Innovations in solar panels, wind turbines and batteries are rapidly outcompeting traditional gas, coal, and nuclear power plants on cost, not to mention generating less pollution and CO2. However, actually safely onboarding these into a working power grid requires navigating more complexity than traditional grid software can manage. Existing grid planning and management were built for a world of predictable, centralized control, often with one-way lanes from power plants to consumers. Traditional software tools were not designed to crunch numbers fast enough.

Peter Salemink, who leads the Power Grid Model project at Dutch distribution operator Alliander, illustrates the problem ...