National consortium project led by TU Delft receives huge grant from NWO to build world's largest research digital twins for energy systems

Being able to develop this state-of-the-art infrastructure will empower scientists to explore new theories and methods for modelling, control, optimisation, and design of the future complex energy systems and their interactions with society over the next century.  

Palensky says: “With this incredible grant, we can work on the safety and resilience of energy systems and make an important contribution to the security of Europe’s future energy networks.”  

The role of law 

Reins: “At Erasmus School of Law, my role focuses on the legal and regulatory dimension of the energy transition. As the energy system becomes increasingly digital and automated, it is not only the infrastructure that needs to evolve - our laws and regulatory frameworks must also become more adaptive, resilient, and future-proof. Within UTOPYS, I work on understanding how regulation can keep pace with technological innovation. By collaborating closely with technical and economic experts in UTOPYS, I help design governance approaches that evolve alongside technology - ensuring that our legal system is ready for the energy system of the future, rather than shaped after the fact.” 

A First-of-Its-Kind Infrastructure  

The new research infrastructure will be the first of its kind worldwide. It will be capable of dynamically representing the complex energy systems, allowing researchers to simulate and study the energy system of the future before building it.  

This unique platform will enable investigation of crucial phenomena such as cyberphysical dynamics, hidden instability modes, complex controller interactions, swarm behaviour, and cyber vulnerabilities - all key challenges that future energy scientists must master.  

At TU Delft, research on the energy transition is a key strategic priority, exemplified by initiatives such as Delft Energy (DE) and PowerWeb Institute. PowerWeb Institute, which facilities cross-faculty and cross-disciplinary collaboration in energy systems, coordinated the preparation of this proposal.  

The necessity and urgency  

Energy systems worldwide share a set of challenges. Electrification of transport, heating, and industry lead to unprecedented loading and congestion, meanwhile, distributed renewable generation units such as solar panels and the growing number of digital assets increase complexity and threaten grid stability. At the same time, the need for national autonomy and resilience calls for a fundamental rethinking of how we design and operate our energy networks.  

“The way we plan and operate energy systems is still based on assumptions that are over 100 years old,” says Palensky. “Back then, large but simple rotating machines generated electricity that was instantly distributed via the grid. Today, these assumptions no longer hold: we now have power-electronic converters, distributed functions, and intelligent digital actors that create complex, fast-changing behaviours. Existing methods can no longer keep up.”  

From cyber security up to sabotage  

Koen Kok, Professor Intelligent Energy Systems at the Eindhoven University, explains: “This new technological impulse is not the only change. We also care for fairness in the system, how will we distribute and share electricity among citizens, for instance. Further, we need to take malicious actors into account, focussing on cyber security up to sabotage and physical attacks. We need a grid that is prepared for the unknown since uncertainty is not only in the weather.”  

“The goal is to investigate alternative topologies, controls, market rules, and the impact of new technologies. For this we are setting up the most powerful digital twin for electricity system research world-wide", Kok continues.  

Reins clarifies: "A digital twin is essentially a highly detailed virtual copy of a real-world energy system. It behaves just like the real thing - but allows us to test ideas, policies, and technologies safely before they are applied in practice. Imagine the Dutch electricity grid in 2040. In the real world, it will be full of wind farms, solar parks, electric vehicles, and smart appliances. These interact constantly and can create new vulnerabilities, for example through cyber-attacks or unexpected market behaviors. With a digital twin, we can replicate that future system in a controlled environment and then “stress-test” it. For example, we can simulate how a sudden weather event or a market shock affects the grid, or explore how cyber-security rules or enetgy prices impact stability. This allows engineers, economists, and legal scholars like myself to see the consequences of decisions before they are implemented - ultimately supporting safer, fairer, and more resilient energy systems.” 

World leader in this field  

The consortium already has experience in creating and operating smaller versions of such digital twins. The new infrastructure, however, will lift these activities to a completely new level: entire countries can be replicated and analysed as well as technologies and systems that do not even exist yet.  

“The Netherlands is already a European leader in this field,” says Palensky. “Over the next decade, UTOPYS will advance that position by driving scientific breakthroughs in the understanding and management of complex energy systems. We are developing novel modelling approaches for complex, multiscale, and stochastic systems - methods also relevant to urban climate, water, and transport infrastructures.  

UTOPYS unites power systems, computer science, mathematics, energy economics, and law in a truly interdisciplinary effort, and we are committed to sharing all results through open-source models and data so both experts and nonexperts can explore and innovate.” 

A Landmark Achievement  

UTOPYS was ranked number one among all proposals submitted to the NWO LSRI programme. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the individuals and organisations whose dedication and collaboration made this achievement possible.  

Through LSRI, NWO strategically invests in large-scale research facilities across the Netherlands—ensuring that they remain state-of-the-art or beyond, and extending their operational lifetimes to support future scientific breakthroughs.