Bentley Systems Uses Digital Twins to Build a Greener Future

• Proeksa Meas
• 4 May 2026
• Construction Focus
• 1262 Views

Bentley Systems is using “digital twin” technology to make the world’s water and energy systems more sustainable. By creating virtual replicas of real-world infrastructure, engineers can test and improve how projects work before they are even built, saving massive amounts of energy and natural resources.

As global water demand intensifies, Bentley is deploying hydraulic modeling and digital twin solutions to safeguard finite water resources. These technologies allow municipalities to simulate system performance in real-time, drastically improving operational efficiency.

Notable successes include a project in the Netherlands where a utility company utilized Bentley software to optimize water pumps, resulting in a 33% reduction in energy costs and a significant decrease in carbon emissions.

Similarly, in Colombia, the use of OpenFlows Water software enabled local utilities to recover 7,000 cubic meters of water monthly by reducing system loss, proving that digital oversight is a critical component of drought resilience.

Bentley Systems is also playing a pivotal role in the shift toward a carbon-neutral grid by providing the engineering foundation for complex renewable energy projects. The company’s software is being used to design and operate diverse clean energy assets, including wind, solar, and green hydrogen plants.

In China, the Bozhong Offshore Wind Farm—the country’s first to achieve “grid parity” with coal—leveraged Bentley’s digital twins to increase project efficiency by 30%. This optimization not only lowered development costs by reducing material requirements by over 8,500 tons but also positioned the farm to offset 1.25 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.

The core of Bentley’s sustainability strategy lies in the lifecycle management of infrastructure. By utilizing digital twins from the initial design phase through to long-term operation, engineers can identify opportunities to minimize material waste and enhance the longevity of assets.

This data-driven approach allows for the creation of more resilient infrastructure that supports global sustainable development goals, ensuring that the critical systems of today are equipped to meet the environmental challenges of tomorrow.

• Bentley
• OpenFlows
• Bentley Systems