Sydney (Australia), 20 March 2025 – Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, and ETAP, an industry and technology leader in power system design and operation, are unveiling a cutting-edge digital twin that can accurately design and simulate the power needs of AI Factories.
Leveraging the NVIDIA Omniverse™ Blueprint for AI factory digital twins, Schneider Electric and ETAP enable the development of digital twins that bring together multiple inputs for mechanical, thermal, networking, and electrical systems to simulate how an AI factory operates. The collaboration is set to transform AI factory design and operations by providing enhanced insight and control over the electrical systems and power requirements, presenting an opportunity for significant efficiency, reliability, and sustainability gains.
While basic visualisation of electrical systems was previously possible, integrating ETAP and NVIDIA Omniverse technologies enables the creation of a comprehensive AI factory digital twin where multiple dynamics interact seamlessly. ETAP's sophisticated modeling technology creates a virtual replica of a data centre's electrical infrastructure and combine it with real-time power system data, advanced analytics, and insights. Intelligent algorithms analyse and predict power consumption and distribution patterns, allowing unprecedented insights into:
advanced electrical system design and simulation
dynamic "what-if" scenario analysis
real-time electrical infrastructure performance tracking
advanced energy efficiency optimisation
predictive maintenance and system reliability assessment
infrastructure needs based on power usage that can help reduce total cost of ownership
From large-scale training clusters to edge inference servers, AI workloads are driving a significant increase in data centre power consumption. Unlike traditional computing tasks, AI operations – particularly model training and complex inference processes – require substantial computational power, leading to higher rack power densities. As AI adoption accelerates, startups, enterprises, colocation providers, and internet giants must rethink data centre design and management to address the growing need for power efficiency.
ETAP and NVIDIA's collaboration introduces an innovative 'grid to chip' approach that addresses the critical challenges of power management, performance optimisation, and energy efficiency in the era of AI. Currently, data centre operators can estimate average power consumption at the rack level, but ETAP's new digital twin aims to increase precision on modeling dynamic load behavior at the chip level to improve power system design and optimise energy efficiency.
This collaborative effort highlights the commitment of both ETAP and NVIDIA to drive innovation in the data centre sector, empowering businesses to optimise their operations and effectively manage the challenges associated with AI workloads. The collaboration aims to enhance data centre efficiency while also improving grid reliability and performance.
"As AI workloads grow in complexity and scale, precise power management is critical to ensuring efficiency, reliability, and sustainability," said Dion Harris, Senior Director of HPC and AI Factory Solutions at NVIDIA. "Through our collaboration with ETAP and Schneider Electric, we're offering data centre operators unprecedented visibility and control over power dynamics, empowering them to optimise their infrastructure and accelerate AI adoption while enhancing operational resilience."
"This collaboration represents more than just a technological solution," said Tanuj Khandelwal, CEO of ETAP. "We're fundamentally reimagining how data centres can be designed, managed, and optimised in the AI era. By bridging electrical engineering with advanced virtualisation and AI technologies, we're creating a new paradigm for infrastructure management."
Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President for Data Centres, Networks & Services at Schneider Electric added, "Collaboration, speed, and innovation are the driving forces behind the digital infrastructure transformation that's required to accommodate AI workloads. Together, ETAP, Schneider Electric, and NVIDIA are not just advancing data centre technology – we're empowering businesses to optimise operations and seamlessly navigate the power requirements of AI."
Key Facts:
Digital twin provides enhanced insight and control over AI Factory electrical systems and power requirements
Product collaboration integrates ETAP's advanced Electrical Digital Twin technology with NVIDIA Omniverse™ Cloud APIs
Operators can benefit from advanced energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, and reduced total cost of ownership
About us:
About Schneider Electric
Schneider's purpose is to create Impact by empowering all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. At Schneider, we call this Life Is On.
Our mission is to be the trusted partner in Sustainability and Efficiency.
We are a global industrial technology leader bringing world-leading expertise in electrification, automation and digitalization to smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-proof data centres, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes. Anchored by our deep domain expertise, we provide integrated end-to-end lifecycle AI enabled Industrial IoT solutions with connected products, automation, software and services, delivering digital twins to enable profitable growth for our customers.
We are a people company with an ecosystem of 150,000 colleagues and more than a million partners operating in over 100 countries to ensure proximity to our customers and stakeholders. We embrace diversity and inclusion in everything we do, guided by our meaningful purpose of a sustainable future for all.
