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How to build a Digital Twin?

This article explains how to create a Digital Twin of your customer’s energy system in the Tibo Energy EMS.You’ll learn what data you need, how to set up an environment, and how to configure assets, datasources, and energy contracts.

Written by Jeroen Pleunis

Before you start: what data do I need?

To create an accurate Digital Twin, you first need to collect information about the current energy system. You’ll use this to model the “as-is” situation, and later you can expand or modify the Digital Twin to simulate future scenarios.

Example case used in this article

In this article, we’ll refer to the following example:

  • A small business with:

    • An office building

    • A small solar PV installation

    • A commercial battery

    • An EV-charger plaza

  • A contracted power of 55 kW (for both consumption and delivery)

  • A dynamic energy contract with day-ahead prices

  • Historical consumption data for the office building, available via the energy supplier (quarter-hourly data for the full year 2023)

We’ll use this example to illustrate each step.

1. Inventory of the current system

Start by collecting the key inputs that define your energy system.

These are the main components:

1.1 Contracted capacities (GTV-E and GTV-T)

Every grid connection has a contracted capacity (GTV) with the grid operator. This determines the maximum power (in kW) that can be transported through the main connection.

There are two values:

  • GTV-E – contracted capacity for consumption

  • GTV-T – contracted capacity for delivery (export to the grid)

You can find both in the Connection and Transport Agreement (ATO) with your grid operator.

Example case
The business has:

  • Contracted power for consumption (GTV-E): 55 kW

  • Contracted power for delivery (GTV-T): 55 kW

These values will be used when configuring the main connection in the environment.

1.2 Historical electricity consumption

We use historical consumption data of a building to reflect realistic behaviour. Ideally, you collect:

  • Quarter-hourly or hourly data

  • For at least one full year (to capture seasonal effects)

If a full year is not available, several months of data can still be useful.

You can:

  • Use data from the main meter, or

  • Use data from submeters (if available) for more detailed modelling

This data is usually provided by the energy supplier as a CSV or Excel file.

Make sure you check the unit of the data.
Typically, consumption data is in kWh. If the data is in another unit (for example, kW or Wh), convert it to kWh before importing.

1.3 Energy assets in the system

Next, list the assets in your energy system. In the Digital Twin, you can add any number of assets. Each asset type has specific configuration options and behaviour. These are explained in separate asset articles.
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Example case
The small business has:

  • A PV installation

  • A battery

  • An AC EV charger plaza

  • An office building, which can be modelled as a Load asset

2. Create and configure an environment

Once you’ve collected the data and understand the structure of the energy system (including main and sub-distribution boxes), you’re ready to create an environment.

An environment represents a single EMS location (e.g. one site or smart grid) and hosts the Digital Twin for that site.

2.1 Create a new environment

  1. Go to the customer’s overview page in the platform.

  2. Click to create a new environment.

  3. Choose the environment type:

    • Single site EMS

    • Smartgrid EMS

    • EnergyHub

    The differences between these environment types are described in a separate article.

  4. Enter:

    • A name for the environment

    • The address

    • The Main connection properties:

      • Contracted consumption power (GTV-E)

      • Contracted production/delivery power (GTV-T)

  5. Click Submit to create the environment.

Example case
The business has:

  • 55 kW contracted consumption power

  • 55 kW contracted delivery power

So we enter 55 kW for both the consumption and production contracted power limits in the “Main connection” properties.

After saving, you’ll see the environment overview.

3. Add a datastream to the Digital Twin

To make your Digital Twin realistic, you can add historical measurement data as datastream.

3.1 Add a new datastream

  1. In the sidebar on the left, navigate to Data-Datastreams for the environment.

  2. Click Add datastream.

  3. Enter a clear name (for example, Office building consumption 2023).

  4. The CSV option will allow you to add a .csv file or copy-pasting the data into the web app.

Once saved, this datastream can be linked to the relevant asset (e.g. the office building load).

4. Add energy contracts to the Digital Twin

Energy contracts are technically part of the customer configuration, but they directly influence:

  • How the EMS evaluates costs in simulations

  • How the EMS optimizes control in live environments

That’s why they’re included in this Digital Twin setup process.

4.1 Configure energy contracts

  1. In the sidebar, navigate to Energy contracts.

  2. You’ll see that two default energy contracts are already available.

  3. You can:

    • Edit existing contracts, or

    • Create new contracts that match the customer’s real energy agreement

Note: Changes here affect all environments for this customer.

Example case
The business has a dynamic energy contract.
In this case, we use the default dynamic energy contract provided in the platform.

5. Configure the Digital Twin (assets and structure)

Now that the environment is created and data is available, you can configure the actual Digital Twin.

5.1 Open the Digital Twin builder

  1. Go to the environment overview.

  2. Add a Scenario

  3. Click Configure to open the Digital Twin builder.

Here you can build up the system structure based on the real electrical layout (including main and sub-distribution where relevant).

5.2 Add assets from the Asset library

  1. On the right-hand side, open the Asset library.

  2. Drag and drop the relevant assets onto the main connection (or subgrids if applicable).

  3. When you place an asset, a configuration window opens where you:

    • Enter the required asset information (power, capacity, constraints, etc.)

    • Optionally link a datastream (historical data) to the asset

Each asset type has its own required and optional fields. These are explained in the asset-specific articles.

5.3 Example configuration

For the example case, you would:

  • Add a Load asset and:

    • Link the previously uploaded historical consumption datastream

  • Add a PV installation asset

  • Add a Battery asset

  • Add an AC EV charger plaza asset

All assets are connected to the same main grid connection that has a 55 kW contracted limit for both import and export.

When all relevant assets are added and correctly configured, your Digital Twin should represent the real system structure and behaviour.

What does a “good” Digital Twin look like?

A well-configured Digital Twin should:

  • Reflect the actual system structure:

    • Main connection

    • Sub-distributions (if relevant)

    • All connected assets

  • Use realistic constraints:

    • Contracted capacities

    • Power limits and ratings of assets

  • Include relevant datasources:

    • Historical consumption and/or generation data in kWh

  • Use correct energy contracts:

    • Static or dynamic tariffs as used by the customer in reality

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