Digital twins | Doubling up


The innovative development of digital twins within the hydro industry is not only transforming engineering practice and enhancing operational efficiency and safety, it’s also introducing new contractual, regulatory and risk-allocation issues.


Above: The Odra River in Poland is the country’s second longest river


THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL technologies can improve the effectiveness of monitoring and prediction of hydrotechnical structures, enhancing energy security by minimising the risk of blackouts and improving the operation of facilities and their immediate surroundings. As Machalski et al explain in Energies, the implementation of a digital twin - the technology that integrates a physical object, its digital representation, and the dynamic interactions between them - has become a widely adopted approach. This adaptability allows for rapid responses to operational changes and failures while providing a safe virtual environment for testing new system solutions and optimising processes. Furthermore, data generated by the digital model supports advanced technological and engineering workflows across various stages of the facility’s lifecycle and its components.


Polish hydropower The Wały Śląskie Hydropower Plant is a run-of-river facility


on the Odra River in Poland. Its location on Poland’s second longest river, with a basin covering 124,049 km2


across Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany,


underscores its importance in both the regional energy landscape and the broader river navigation system. Indeed the Wały Śląskie scheme forms an integral part of the energy and shipping dam at Brzeg Dolny, serving dual functions of navigation support and energy production since its commissioning in 1958. At the heart of the facility are four Kaplan turbine


hydro sets with vertical axes, each with a rotor diameter of 4m. These turbines are comprehensively equipped with speed regulators, pump aggregates, and servomotors. The generators, manufactured by CKD Praha and CKD Blansko, are housed within a monolithic reinforced concrete construction. Each individual turbine operates with a nominal discharge of 60m3


/


sec under a nominal head of 4.7m, delivering 2.43MW of power. Collectively, the units provide the plant with a total installed capacity of 9.72MW and a maximum installed discharge of 240m3


/sec. 18 | January 2026 | www.waterpowermagazine.com


Previously the plant relied upon basic monitoring equipment, including vibration sensors, rotational speed sensors, guide vane position sensors, turbine blade position sensors, electrical value meters at generator outputs, and temperature sensors for the hydro units. Despite this instrumentation, the facility faced significant limitations in data management and operational optimisation. Most parameters were not being recorded, and readings were displayed at multiple disconnected locations throughout the plant without unified software. The existing measurement infrastructure required thorough verification due to concerns about service life and operational reliability. Although the plant’s theoretical production potential is calculated at 47,984.7MWh annually, its actual performance typically falls 5% below this figure, highlighting opportunities for efficiency improvements through the D-HYDROFLEX digital twin implementation.


Twinning


The process of creating a digital twin for the Wały Śląskie Hydropower Plant was developed as part of the D-HYDROFLEX project. This project is developing a comprehensive suite of digital tools aimed at enhancing the flexibility and sustainability of hydropower plants across Europe, which are being tested at various demonstration sites to ensure their effectiveness in different operational environments. The D-HYDROFLEX consortium comprises 17 partners


from seven European countries, including five power plant operators/energy producers, six European research institutes and universities, and seven technology providers. This multidisciplinary collaboration ensures that the developed solutions are robust, scalable, and applicable across diverse operational contexts. Through the D-HYDROFLEX project’s digital twin implementation, the Wały Śląskie plant aimed to optimise operations, enhance maintenance protocols, and maximise energy production from the existing infrastructure without negative environmental impacts. Development of this digital twin required a systematic


approach to address the unique challenges posed by the existing infrastructure, operational demands, and limited initial data availability. The preparation phase included detailed site assessments, stakeholder consultations, and strategic planning to ensure the feasibility and alignment of the digital twin with the plant’s operational goals. By adopting a scalable, modular approach, this conceptual architecture can be adapted to other hydropower installations, thereby advancing the broader application of digital technologies within hydropower generation. To maximise the effectiveness and replicability of the hydro system digital twin, the authors recommend that future implementations prioritise the early integration of standardised data acquisition systems and documentation practices. Establishing


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