Long-term strategic partners Siemens and Mercedes-Benz have co-developed a Digital Energy Twin, paving the way forward for sustainable factory planning in the automotive industry. This technological innovation was brought into being to support Mercedes-Benz in achieving its ambition of running all its fully owned production sites worldwide on 100 percent renewable energies by 2039.
The Digital Energy Twin is designed to enhance, simplify and accelerate the early phase of factory energy planning processes for both brownfield and greenfield sites, effectively reducing planning time. By combining Siemens' knowledge in the decarbonization and energy twin domain with the extensive automotive expertise of Mercedes-Benz, they have successfully created a scalable tool specifically for the automotive environment.
The tool was designed and tested at the Mercedes-Benz Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, Germany. Constructed based on behavioural models of buildings, technical equipment and energy generation, the Digital Energy Twin assimilates inputs such as weather data, load profile simulation, building asset selection and dimensioning. Simulating a physical energy system, it then formulates planning scenarios for energy usage and recommends strategies to optimise outcomes, such as energy efficiency, cost-saving and emission reduction.
While underlining the utility of the tool, Matthias Rebellius, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure, stated, "By accurately modelling operational and energy usage scenarios, the Digital Energy Twin enables faster and more transparent decision making in the early planning phases." He also underscored that the innovative creation represented an "exciting first step towards an integrated process for optimized planning, building operation, and production."
The tool also stands testament to the potential of Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform designed to expedite digital transformation and facilitate cooperative development of tailored products and solutions for various industries. The Siemens and Mercedes Benz collaboration extending to sustainable automotive production was established in 2021 to advance the digitalisation of environment-friendly production methods.
From Mercedes-Benz's perspective, Arno van der Merwe, Vice President Production Planning Mercedes Benz Cars, proudly stated, "The Digital Energy Twin is our answer to successfully visualize, analyze and sustainably optimize energy-efficient building processes." He acknowledged that through this transformative technology, they can better understand existing factory buildings and effectively convert them into living smart buildings, thus setting a standard for energy-efficient and sustainable building use in Mercedes-Benz's global production network.
Digital energy twins are a crucial part of Siemens' portfolio to aid industrial customers in achieving their sustainability and decarbonisation goals. Recently, Siemens also announced its collaboration with another strong international partner to implement a digital energy twin for energy saving simulation across 15 breweries worldwide. The implementation of such tools has shown promising results, with projections suggesting potential energy savings of between 15-20 percent at each site and a colossal CO2 reduction of 50 percent per site on average.