CReDo: joining forces to deliver resilient infrastructure

Using a pioneering cross-sector climate adaptation digital twin to share data from the water, energy and telecoms sectors we are providing a practical example of how connected data can improve climate adaptation and resilience across a system of systems. This has provided us with improved understanding of asset failure, systems interdependencies and cascade failures under extreme heat scenarios.

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The challenge

Our assets operate in an interrelated infrastructure system. We are reliant on the power network for electricity, the telecoms networks for communications and the transport system for access. These assets are connected in a host of ways and a failure in any one of these can have cascade effects which lead to failures elsewhere – an issue which has become more acute in the face of more frequent extreme weather events with climate change.

Increasingly, high temperature events are testing the resilience of our infrastructure. We are beginning to experience temperatures that have never been seen in the UK such as the 2022 heatwave, where temperatures broke records reaching 40.3°C in the Anglian Water region. Across the UK, a significant number of water assets were impacted due to heat or required emergency cooling actions to maintain normal operation.

Infrastructure owners are only just beginning to understand the effect of extreme heat on asset failure and the failure cascade of critical connected utility infrastructure is even more unknown.

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Our climate change adaptation

Since 2021, we’ve partnered with BT and UK Power Networks on a project, led by the National Digital Twin programme and Connected Places Catapult, known as the Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo). Initially funded by BEIS and Innovate UK – and now developed further with funding from both Ofwat Innovation Fund and Ofgem – CReDo is combining datasets from Anglian Water, BT, and UK Power Networks into one system model, to develop a cross-sector picture of the interconnectedness of networks.

The working digital twin has been used to examine the potential impacts of extreme high temperature events on the wider infrastructure network. We have produced an extreme heat app that enables users to understand asset risk and when assets could fail under climate change driven extreme heat scenarios to inform strategic planning, emergency planning, and infrastructure design.

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Next steps

As we look to the next stage of the project, we will be scaling the working digital twin model to become UK-wide. We are also considering other future scenarios, including extreme wind and storm events and involving more asset owners, to cover infrastructure such as roads. This project has showcased how we can collaborate on a national network of connected digital twins, to create resilient infrastructure.