Can we benefit from game engines to develop digital twins for planning the deployment of photovoltaics?

Energy Informatics

article

Clausen, Christian Skafte Beck¹  Ma, Zheng Grace¹  Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard¹ 

[1] SDU Center for Energy Informatics, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark

关键词: Digital twin;    Photovoltaics;    Game engine;    Unreal Engine;    Simulation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s42162-022-00222-7

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Digital Twins (DTs) have attracted great attention in the energy sector. Game engines have been suggested to model DTs of their physical counterparts because they provide realistic graphics, lighting-, fluid- and physics engines that simulate the real world. However, the application of game engines to develop DTs for photovoltaics (PVs) has not yet been discussed in the literature. Therefore, this paper assesses the built-in game engine features' ability to support the DT development of PVs with Unreal Engine 5. This paper mainly focuses on visual representation because the surrounding environment significantly impacts PV deployment, and the existing software tools do not allow the study of the environmental factors at the early planning phase of a project’s lifecycle. Furthermore, this paper investigates the position of the sun, shadows and reflections from nearby objects that influence the PVs' power output, and if the built-in light engine can be used for planning the deployment of PVs. The result shows that in-game objects in the environment can be used to affect the simulated PV output estimate over a year. It also indicates that applying Unreal Engine 5 to model PV systems that rely on mirroring real-world behaviour is promising if accurate data is used in the modelling. Real data and mathematical PV models are necessary since Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen subsystem cannot provide realistic solar radiance on PVs for a given location on earth.

【 授权许可】

CC BY