IOTICS to build a Digital Twin of Portsmouth International Port
| £1.5 million project to develop and demonstrate a green hydrogen energy system kicks off as part of UK’s biggest clean-maritime competition 21 September 2021: IOTICS is creating a digital twin of Portsmouth International Port as part of an ambitious £1.5m project to demonstrate an achievable modular green hydrogen generation system within the Port. The Shipping, Hydrogen & Port Ecosystems UK (SHAPE UK) project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. Portsmouth International Port is the UK’s largest and most successful municipal port, operated by Portsmouth City Council, and is one of the sites of the new Solent Freeport. It is committed to becoming the first carbon neutral UK port by 2030, and the first zero-emission port by 2050. “As a port operating in the heart of a major city, and that is owned by the people of Portsmouth, we have an obligation to do everything we can to minimise our impact as we continue to grow in the coming years.” said Jerry Clarke, Senior Project Manager at Portsmouth International Port. IOTICS and its partners will create a digital twin of the port, interoperating with existing and emerging data from the port infrastructure and its activities as well as gathering data from the working hydrogen electrolyser. The IOTICS-enabled semantically defined digital twins, interoperating with data sources uncovered by KnowNow and deployed by Barter4Things will be an amalgamation to virtualise both dockside and offshore activities. Connected Places Catapult and Portsmouth University will leverage data from the digital twins within the port ecosystem to enhance and optimise operations with decision-support tools. The digital twin approach will create a scalable model that is translatable for other ecosystems, use cases and locations, offering a flexible foundation for further development. Sophie Peachey, Head of Customer Success at IOTICS said:“This project gives us many options to showcase the value of a digital twin approach by reusing data across different use cases. We will be looking at the business benefits for deploying renewable and clean fuels as well as the logistics of refuelling onshore equipment and sea-going vessels in a busy port. We’ll also be setting up the foundations of ways to look at environmental impacts of switching to clean fuel sources.” Dr David Hutchinson, a Reader in Environmental Innovation and Innovation and Impact Development Manager for the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth, said: “The Government has a very ambitious environmental target within the maritime sector. SHAPE UK represents a milestone in the move to innovative low-cost green hydrogen generation and storage systems that bring significant reduction in carbon emissions and air pollution in and around Portsmouth and other UK ports.” He added, “The port is keen to act as a ‘living lab’ so there will be a great student experience element, which will be particularly relevant for students in our Faculty of Technology, such as those on the renewable energy degree.” SHAPE UK, led by the University of Portsmouth, brings together a wide range of expertise from industry and academia,including Portsmouth International Port,Lloyd’s Register, Engas,IOTICS,B4T, KnowNow,COX, University of Brighton and theConnected Places Catapult. This cooperative transformation project will help Portsmouth International Port become the UK’s first zero-emission port and pave the way for further emissions reduction across the maritime sector. |
About the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition
The SHAPE UK Project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. Announced in March 2020, and part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan to position the UK at the forefront of green shipbuilding and maritime technology, the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition is a £20m investment from government alongside a further c.£10 from industry to reduce emissions from the maritime sector. The programme is supporting 55 projects across the UK, including projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland and from the South West to the North East of England. As set out in the Clean Maritime Plan (2019), Government funding has been used to support early-stage research relating to clean maritime. The programme will be used to support the research, design and development of zero emission technology and infrastructure solutions for maritime and to accelerate decarbonisation in the sector.
About IOTICS
IOTICS patented technology, IOTICSpace, is enabling enterprises to unlock the value data across their ecosystems of assets, objects, companies, and people. The digital software company provides the secure environment and tools to create digital twins of anything interoperating with confidence across digital ecosystems. Founded in 2014 out of Cambridge, growing recognition of the crucial role of data interactions between partners has driven enterprise and channel adoption globally. IOTICS is changing the way the world uses and shares data, enabling ecosystems, and realising their vision of a world where anything can safely interact with any other thing – from the smallest sensor to the largest power station, from individuals to entire supply chains. For more information, visit www.iotics.com
