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Environment types

This article explains the three environment types you can choose from when creating a digital twin for energy management, and helps you decide which setup fits your site and stakeholders best.

Written by Jeroen Pleunis

What is an environment?

An environment defines the scope and structure of your digital twin:

  • How many stakeholders are involved

  • Whether you have subgrids

  • How energy and power are managed and shared

When you create a new environment, you select one of three environment types:

  1. Single Site EMS

  2. Smartgrid EMS

  3. EnergyHub

Each option supports a different level of complexity and collaboration.

Single Site EMS

Best for: One site, one stakeholder, no subgrids.
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Purpose

Use Single Site EMS when you want to model a single location with one organization responsible for the entire energy system.
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Capabilities

  • Creates a digital twin of a standalone site

  • Uses a single energy management system (EMS)

  • Does not include subgrids

  • All assets (e.g. PV, batteries, loads) belong to a single stakeholder

Typical use cases

Choose Single Site EMS when:

  • You only need to simulate one company or one building

  • There are no internal subgrids to manage separately

  • You’re starting with a simple energy setup and don’t need multi-stakeholder features yet

Smartgrid EMS

Best for: One stakeholder, one site with internal subgrids.
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Purpose

Use Smartgrid EMS when you still have a single organization in charge, but the site is divided into multiple subgrids that need to be modeled and controlled.
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Capabilities

  • Creates a digital twin for a single stakeholder site with subgrids

  • Supports multiple subgrids within the same site (e.g. production hall, office building, warehouse)

  • Allows internal energy management between those subgrids

  • Still managed by one EMS and one stakeholder

For more details on subgrid setup and behavior, see the article about Subgrids in simulations (link this in your help center).
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Typical use cases

Choose Smartgrid EMS when:

  • You have several internal grid sections with different assets and loads

  • You want to simulate flows between those subgrids

  • Your site is more complex than a single bus, but still owned and operated by one organization

EnergyHub

Best for: Multiple stakeholders, multiple subgrids, shared assets and energy exchange.
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Purpose

Use EnergyHub for the most advanced setup, where several stakeholders share infrastructure, power limits, and assets across interconnected subgrids.
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Capabilities

1. Multiple stakeholders

  • Model multiple organizations (e.g. different companies on an industrial park)

  • Each stakeholder can have their own assets and contracts

2. Shared power and energy exchange

  • Stakeholders share contracted power limits on the main connection

  • Energy can be exchanged between assets, such as:

    • Batteries

    • PV installations

    • Other flexible loads or generators

3. Shared assets

  • Model assets that are jointly used by multiple stakeholders, for example:

    • Shared battery storage

    • Shared PV field

    • Shared EV charging plaza on the main connection

  • Enable scenarios where, for example, excess PV production from one company can be used by another company in the same hub

Typical use cases

Choose EnergyHub when:

  • You have an energy community or business park with multiple companies

  • Stakeholders share physical assets or contracted capacity

  • You want to simulate inter-stakeholder energy trading, allocation, or optimization

Choosing the right environment upfront ensures your digital twin matches your real-world setup and supports the type of energy management and collaboration you want to simulate.

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