Through a global utility survey launched in the summer of 2022, two global organisations – SWAN Forum and BlueTech Research, came together to present an overview of the water utility perspective on Digital Twin (DT) technology adoption and highlight its key advantages, gaps and barriers. To aid in market forecasting and provide guidance for both utilities and the supporting ecosystem, the survey findings have now been compiled in the form of a consolidated report.
39 utility experts from 36 distinct utilities from across the world took part in the survey. Utilities ranged in size from 5,000 to 1 million people served.
We invite you to review some of the report highlights and the full report below for insights into digital twin benefits, drawbacks, and uses, with a particular focus on market factors and adoption hurdles.
Notable Survey Facts & Highlights:
- Of the 36 utilities responding to the survey, 23% report that their utility is actively looking into investing in new data, digital platform, and/or DT technologies or will likely invest in the next 5 years.
- Approximately 38% of the utilities polled have digital twin solutions in place, while 46% do not; 15% of respondents indicated that their utility may have digital twin solutions.
- Utility top concerns are managing water supply & demand, asset management & field services, and wastewater collection.
- For utilities that have implemented digital twin solutions, they most commonly use them to forecast water demand and wastewater levels, followed by leak detection and process optimisation.
- The originality and strength of a digital twin compared to “simulation models” is its real-time component and added accuracy of information.
- Data normalisation efforts prove to be a major hurdle for utilities due to the mapping of asset IDs across multiple operational systems.
- Responses to some questions hint at misalignments between vendor marketing of solutions and utility needs. For example, water and wastewater treatment plant optimisation were ranked near the bottom of utility top concerns, but many vendors feature this application of DTs prominently in their advertising.
Access the Report
SWAN Members can login to download the full report. Non-Members may purchase the report for £150 by completing your details below.
