Digital Twin of Heating Networks: AI Helps Modernize Utilities in Bashkortostan
A pilot project to create digital twins of district heating systems has gone live in Beloretsk. It is the first project of its kind in Bashkortostan and is expected to be replicated in other cities across the republic.
Beloretsk faces a particular challenge: severe deterioration of its utility infrastructure. As of December 2025, 73.9% of the city's infrastructure was worn out, 20 percentage points above the average for the Republic of Bashkortostan. About 60% of all heating networks need to be replaced – roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) out of 118 kilometers (73 miles). The digital twin pilot was launched to help the city stop “patching holes” and move toward a systematic approach to modernizing its district heating system.
A virtual model of Beloretsk's entire heating infrastructure is now being built, while artificial intelligence will help identify the most deteriorated sections of the network so they can be replaced first. Sensors and telemetry systems will continuously update and analyze the information model of the physical heating network. That will allow operators to model different operating scenarios for the heating infrastructure, adjust operating parameters and make repair decisions based on precise data. The resulting data will also make it possible to better substantiate utility rates and develop programs for expanding natural gas connections and modernizing infrastructure.
The Russian Energy Agency of the Russian Ministry of Energy is ready to provide methodological and expert support for the pilot project. In particular, projected fuel and energy balances could be integrated into the system, while the agency could coordinate common data-exchange formats.
Implementing the digital twin of Beloretsk's district heating system will allow the energy provider to use its resources more efficiently. For residents, that should mean more transparent utility rates and fewer outages and system failures.
Scaling Across the Republic
Bashkortostan Head Radiy Khabirov has already told a meeting of the Council for Digital Development that the district heating digital twin technology will soon be replicated in other cities and districts across the republic. Beloretsk has become the test bed where the data model, network diagnostic methods and decision-making algorithms will be refined.
More broadly, this is one of the most promising technologies for Russia's utility sector. Digital twins and predictive analytics can use collected data to calculate the probability of failures with high accuracy and make repair programs more effective. They can also help optimize investment. Given the advanced deterioration of Beloretsk's infrastructure, the city's experience should provide an especially revealing test case.
For Russia's IT industry, deploying digital twins in smaller cities means demand for these technologies is likely to keep growing. Digital modeling platforms are already being developed both by major district heating companies and specialized IT businesses.
How the Trend Developed
Beloretsk is one example of independent developers supplying technology for digital twin deployments. Large companies, however, were the pioneers in this field. T Plus was among the first to adopt digital twins. In December 2020, Russia's first digital twin for a district heating system went live in Yekaterinburg. At the time, all of its systems relied on foreign software and equipment. After 2022, the company began implementing its own import-substitution program and developing domestic automated process control systems. It also announced plans to deploy digital twins in all 16 regions where it operates. In 2025, T Plus unveiled an automated process control system based on Russian software.
Also in 2022, Rosatom Infrastructure Solutions unveiled the fully import-substituted Tsifrovoe teplosnabzhenie (Digital Heat Supply) software suite, which began to be deployed in cities where Rosatom divisions operate.
From Virtual Model to Real-World Results
The Beloretsk pilot shows that Russia's utility sector is increasingly adopting digital twin technology not only in major cities but also in smaller communities. For municipalities with aging infrastructure, the technology is especially relevant because it offers a way to modernize those systems more efficiently while requiring fewer resources.
