Enzen Australia has collaborated with a Tasmanian state-owned enterprise to launch Virtual Tas – a joint venture entity that will develop, refresh and serve a 4D digital twin of the entire state’s above ground infrastructure, built and natural environments.
Developed in partnership with 42-24, a subsidiary of Tasmania’s electricity supplier TasNetworks, Virtual Tas is a first-of-its-kind innovation in Australia. It’s based on Enzen’s Digital Reality Platform, a cloud-based, AI-powered, unique, end-to-end geospatial analytics solution that generates intelligent insights of utility assets in real-time.
Virtual Tas has established a 10-year foundation customer partnership with TasNetworks to provide digital twin services that will enable it to transform its asset management and improve economic and community resilience to natural disasters like bushfires and flooding, plus enhance the quality of power supply to Tasmanians, all in a sustainable and affordable way. It will also drive economic growth in the state by giving its businesses and communities access to the data so they can make smarter infrastructure decisions.
Smarter energy systems, at high efficiency and low cost
Ian McLeod, Head of Smart Energy and Water at Enzen Australia and Board Director of Virtual Tas, said: “Some elements of the technology have been used for specific purposes within Australia and worldwide, but this will be the first time a whole state has been captured at such high resolution for the specific purposes of supplying high quality data and services across multiple business sectors enabling greater cross-sector collaboration.”
James Bangay, Head of Digital at Enzen Australia, said: “The energy transition demands real-time visibility of operations and deeper real-time knowledge of the interdependence between all infrastructures. Virtual Tas integrates a range of data sources and digital solutions, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), satellite data, aerial footage, high resolution photography, Big Data modelling and real-time sensed data from Internet of Things LoraWAN networks.
“The outcome is a virtual world view of spatial data at high efficiency and low cost. The Virtual Tas model can be replicated across different utilities and states in Australia, and will help accelerate the country’s transition to the smarter energy systems of the future.”
