Digital Twin–Enabled Solar for Industrial Decarbonisation and Community Energy Access

About

Google-backed Envirogood is developing a Digital Twin–based energy planning, feasibility, and investment assurance platform to accelerate the deployment of distributed solar, storage, and resilient power systems across industrial, institutional, and community-linked infrastructure in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

The platform enables industrial decarbonisation and energy resilience while simultaneously supporting inclusive energy access models, by converting fragmented energy regulations, utility requirements, grid constraints, and site-specific conditions into structured, decision-ready intelligence.

Envirogood’s approach is designed for anchor-infrastructure–led transition models, where universities, hospitals, business parks, logistics hubs, and industrial estates act as:

• Stable, creditworthy energy anchors

• Testbeds for grid-aware decarbonisation

• Catalysts for extending clean, reliable power benefits to adjacent SMEs, workers, and surrounding communities

We are seeking South African and international partners including universities, healthcare providers, industrial estate operators, municipalities, utilities, and technology providers, to collaborate on Energy Catalyst–aligned pilot projects that demonstrate how digital planning, smart data, and system-level intelligence can unlock scalable clean energy solutions with both commercial and social impact.

Project Description

South Africa’s electricity system faces persistent and interlinked challenges including legacy infrastructure, unpredictable load shedding, high grid and generator emissions, grid congestion, constrained utility capacity, rising industrial energy costs, and rapid growth in behind-the-meter solar across commercial and public estates.

While solar and storage adoption is accelerating, particularly among universities, hospitals, industrial parks, and logistics hubs, project development is frequently delayed or de-risked inadequately due to:

• Uncertain technical feasibility and grid readiness

• Limited visibility of cumulative grid impacts

• Inconsistent approval and compliance processes

• Weak performance validation and long-term assurance

These constraints not only slow industrial decarbonisation, but also limit the ability of large energy users to support wider energy resilience and access for surrounding communities.

Envirogood’s Digital Twin platform addresses these challenges by providing an integrated, site-to-system view that enables a single demonstrator project to deliver multiple outcomes:

Core Capabilities

• Digital Twin modelling of buildings, campuses, and estate-scale geometry

• High-resolution energy demand and load profiling

• Technical, economic, and operational feasibility assessment for solar and storage

• Grid interaction, flexibility, and resilience analysis

• Smart-meter and IoT data integration

• Utility- and regulator-ready data outputs

• Ongoing performance validation and compliance monitoring

Industrial & Social Impact Integration

The proposed Energy Catalyst project will demonstrate how anchor infrastructure–led clean energy investments can simultaneously:

• Reduce emissions and energy costs for industrial and institutional users

• Improve grid stability and demand flexibility

• Create validated pathways for private investment

• Support community-linked energy access, such as:

  • Power availability for adjacent SMEs

  • Improved resilience for healthcare and education services

  • Local economic participation and job creation

By embedding digital planning and performance assurance at the core of the project, the platform ensures that benefits are measurable, auditable, and replicable across:

• South African industrial and public estates

• Nigerian state-led mini-grid and institutional programmes

• Wider sub-Saharan African energy transition initiatives

Energy Catalyst Alignment

This project is intentionally designed to align with Energy Catalyst Round 11 by:

• Focusing on a single, high-impact demonstrator project

• Delivering clear technical, commercial, and social outcomes

• Producing evidence and tools that are replicable across multiple sites and countries

• Bridging industrial decarbonisation with inclusive energy access

• Reducing risk for follow-on private and public investment

The outcomes of the South African pilot will directly inform and complement Envirogood’s work with state governments, regulators, and development partners in Nigeria, enabling faster deployment of resilient solar and mini-grid solutions across the continent.