When you go all-out to be an industry leader, it can be a complex endeavor that requires a company to balance meeting current customer demands while anticipating their future needs—the latter being more complicated. At POWER Engineers, its leadership has set the foundation for this delicate balance as they embrace the role of market-leading innovator.
The result is a progressive strategy focused on innovation that is enabled through an internal culture and external partnerships, allowing the company to deliver outcomes through innovative products. A key example is POWER’s interest in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and digital twin solutions.
BIM creates a detailed, data-rich 3D model of an asset before it's built. A BIM model gives engineers all the information they need to plan, design, construct and manage infrastructure more effectively. A BIM model also allows everyone on a project to work in the same model simultaneously, share information easily and make changes that everyone can see instantly. It is more than just a 3D model; it includes embedded data about the components that assist in design, specifications and asset management activities.
A digital twin is essentially a virtual representation of a physical structure, including its functional nature, such as a substation updated with data from the real world and simulating the switching operation.
With increasing pressure for utilities to integrate, generate and distribute more energy, POWER anticipates that efficiency in BIM and digital twin solutions is a great opportunity to address a variety of issues facing utilities in meeting the demand.
“Over the last 20 years, utilities have added 20% more generation and distribution capabilities to meet energy demand, and current energy forecasts predict that in seven years they will need to double this amount,” said Holger Peller, POWER Engineers’ President and Chief Operating Officer. “The efficiency of BIM and digital twin software can address some of the concerns caused by the shortage of professionals to execute design work for electrical infrastructure, error-prone manual design processes that can create construction delays and management of the volumes of data created by these processes.”
This perspective has led to a strategic partnership between POWER Engineers and German-based entegra, which founded primtech North America in Spring 2024. The firm offers data-driven software for intelligent 3D BIM design, engineering, virtual reality, and digital twin technology for high-voltage substations.
Through this collaboration, primtech North America has exclusive rights to a scan-to-twin software solution called primtech OSR+PRO. This tool incorporates AI and Machine Learning to quickly and economically create accurate, intelligent 3D substation digital twin models from LiDAR scans and additional data sources, enabling utilities to develop BIM models and accurate asset management data of their existing brownfield assets.
“The key difference in the primtech solution compared to the others we reviewed is its database foundation,” Peller said. “Instead of being built on a CAD solution wedged into a database structure, its root architecture is based on a universal database structure. It is capable of integrating structured and unstructured data formats resulting in a solution that everyone uses and adapts to numerous existing applications for data extraction and integration.”
POWER estimates that primtech software and workflows are 10-20 times faster than existing 2D CAD solutions in the marketplace and will reduce costs, compress schedules and improve safety.
“Just imagine the time and effort saved on a substation construction meeting on a remote site with 15 to 20 people by instead hosting an online virtual reality review of an accurate 3D model,” Peller said. “With this innovation, stakeholders can virtually walk through this model, take measurements, review construction sequencing, and generally review the project in a way that is impossible by flipping through flat drawings.” A robust BIM model will also provide accurate and detailed information on each component, such as the manufacturer, model number, ratings, vendor drawings and more. Because the information is embedded in the system, it can be accessed quickly to resolve questions on the fly.
primtech North America has already licensed the primtech 3d software to a number of innovative engineering, procurement and consulting firms. The software is ideal for contractors that want to compress design schedules and initiate project starts sooner.
POWER also has plans to pilot primtech’s capabilities in its work on one of the largest transmission projects in North America. POWER will import data from model-based substation designs into primtech’s digital twin viewer, allowing the project team to visualize, review and share the virtual reality 3D models across all stakeholders.
Peller is optimistic about this pilot and how it will reveal the true value of using an accurate digital model to address problems during the project execution phase. This approach will be a real game-changer for the industry.
“Our industry is changing and evolving, but the way we are documenting our designs hasn’t,” Peller said. “This pilot will demonstrate the benefits of the software architecture allowing for the structuring, sorting and leveraging of data within a repository to give clients compelling insight into their assets like never before.”
He said that when the value of this root architecture becomes evident, utilities will explore other opportunities within their asset bases. Peller suggests a logical next step would be utilities using the software for the rebuild of existing substations. It’s why he calls this pilot a first step in a long journey.
“If successful, we know it could mean upfront costs for primtech conversion for our clients using other 3D or 2D platforms,” he said. “But we hope to prove it’s a wise investment for the benefits of accelerating error-free designs along with improvements in safety, life-cycle asset and data management and the procurement process.”
Utilities and consulting firms wanting to learn more on how primtech software solutions can support their projects may contact primtech North America representatives: Duane Guidry, sales director, at [email protected], Michael Goins, delivery and implementation director, at [email protected] or Kelby Dardeau, technical solutions manager, at [email protected].
About POWER Engineers: POWER Engineers is an engineering and environmental consulting firm specializing in integrated solutions for clients in the power delivery, power generation, food and beverage, government, renewables and storage, campus energy, chemicals, and oil and gas industries. Founded in 1976, POWER has 50 offices and more than 3,900 employees across North America. For more information, please visit www.powereng.com
