DT4PED Dialogue and Quality Assurance Support for PEDs by Digital Twin District Energy Models - Final report Swedish national project part

Report, 2026

The project "Dialogue and quality assurance support for PEDs using digital twin energy models" (DT4PED) has developed and tested a Digital Twin (DT) Viewer for the mixed-use district Jättesten in Gothenburg. The DT-Viewer is a powerful tool for informing planning and decision-making around climate transition, positive energy districts (PEDs) and energy communities in existing urban areas.

The results show that the development process is just as important as the tool itself. A co-design approach with project partners and wider stakeholder groups in the form of workshops, seminars, and regular meetings was essential for joint learning and to be able to develop solutions that respond to different perspectives and needs. The DT-Viewer integrates data from various sources as well as energy and optimization models via an easy-to-use and visually appealing user interface. In a developed logbook, data, assumptions, and modelling results are documented to facilitate reuse in future projects. The optimization was carried out at the district level for selected renovation measures (energy efficiency) and heating systems, renewable energy (solar PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) over a ten-year horizon with hourly resolution, with the goal of minimizing life cycle costs and climate impact from operation and embedded in materials. Applied to Jättesten and based on the chosen solutions, the analysis shows that it is very challenging to achieve full PED status. While optimized solutions reduced electricity dependency (to ∼63% with PV and BESS under volatile prices) and total carbon emissions (by ∼13% compared to baseline), neither full net-zero energy input, full carbon neutrality, nor an energy surplus were achieved. Optimal solutions were sensitive to local conditions, especially low carbon dioxide in district heating and volatility in electricity prices.

The analysis of stakeholder configurations, governance models and value-creating processes showed a multidimensional (economic, environmental, social) value creation but also some contradictions between different actor types, missed opportunities due to limited stakeholder participation and governance based on the project's theoretical approach. The project also explored the possibility of developing business models linking PED/energy communities and DT. The results show that DT can be seen as part of the governance infrastructure and can serve as knowledge platforms where plan and reality are compared, which strengthens predictability and legitimacy. However, since there are no established business models for either PED or DT, further research and innovation is needed.

The main contributions of the project are energy and climate modelling at the district level instead of the building level, the development of a tool, a web-based DT-Viewer, for decision support co-designed with project partners, optimization of energy efficiency, costs and climate impact, and reinterpretation of the PED concept to include climate impact. In the next step, the DT Viewer is further developed by the partner organisation Chalmers Next Labs. The development focuses on adaptation to different target groups, improved data and transparency, scalability for application of the model in other contexts (Gothenburg, nationally and internationally) and extended scenario testing related to energy systems, renovation measures packages and target images.