- Endesa organises 3D tours and digital diagnosis to monitor its hydroelectric power plants.
Artificial Intelligence has also come to water power. Endesa has created "digital twins" of its hydroelectric power plants, which allow for 3D virtual tours and preventive diagnoses of the operation of these facilities, which are fundamental to our energy system.
"Endesa has 153 hydroelectric power plants distributed throughout Spain, their management is essential, but their location sometimes causes problems, so creating these digital twins has been crucial to improve our understanding and their operation," says Santiago Dominguez, Endesa's Head of Hydroelectric Generation. "When people think of hydroelectric power plants, they don't have an idea of their size, how they work and how important they are to give us 100% renewable supply," he explains.
The first digital twin pilot for virtual tours was launched in 2023 at the El Pintado hydroelectric power plant (Seville). It was developed by Endesa's Hydro Iberia Predictive Maintenance team, which developed a model similar to Street View but inside a power plant. To do this, 360º cameras and Lidar scanners with the latest technology were installed. With them, it was possible to obtain the necessary depth to generate 3D spaces with high-resolution image quality.
This application allows you to make a virtual visit to the facility to view all the equipment installed in it and the infrastructure of the plant. This model is very broadly useful, including virtual visits for suppliers or internal personnel, visualisation of equipment and instrumentation, taking measurements on the installation, visualisation of the plan of a plant, and even making a 3D model of the entire plant. In addition, this system makes it possible to link documentation of interest (plans, photographs, diagrams, manuals, databases, sensor configuration files for predictive maintenance, etc.) to the image of the equipment and systems that make up the hydropower plant (turbine, oil unit, remote control, etc.), in order to access it directly in the event of the need for consultation by the staff.
Following the success of the pilot carried out at the El Pintado plant, Endesa has extended this model to 9 other plants. These are the plants of Tajo de la Encantada (Andalusia) and Guillena (Andalusia), Eume (Galicia), Moncabril (Galicia) and Peñadrada (Castilla y León), Canelles (Catalonia), Sallente (Catalonia), Moralets (Catalonia) and Serós (Catalonia).
Sr Dominguez explained "But we have not only developed the digital twin in order to have a 360 view of the installations, we have also launched a diagnostic digital twin that receives more than 6,000 analogue measurements in real time, including temperature, pressure, speed, vibration, etc. and they are used to predict future values. These models are adjusted taking into account the normal behaviour of the equipment and they alert us when the values received in real time do not match the estimated values."
Endesa currently has digital twin diagnostic models implemented in the 38 largest hydroelectric power plants, which cover nearly 70% of all installed capacity. There is ongoing monitoring of the main and the most critical equipment and, at the same time it is remotely displayed for Operation and Maintenance specialists. All the information collected is displayed on different screens where the raw data is represented so as to have more direct, accessible and dynamic control of the operation of the installation.
About Endesa
Endesa is a leading electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. In addition, it is the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. It undertakes end-to-end business including the generation, distribution and retailing of electricity. It also offers, through Endesa X, value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy uses in homes, companies, industries and public administrations, including electric mobility, where it is one of the main operators of charging points in Spain. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribución and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our team totals around 9,260 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, Europe's largest electricity group.