Bentley Systems has announced the finalists for its Year in Infrastructure (YII) Awards 2026, and APD Global is on the list - one of three finalists worldwide in the Transmission and Distribution category, for the entry Clean Energy Link–North: Accelerating the renewable transition through AI-enabled digital delivery.
The scale of the field makes the shortlist meaningful. This year's finalists were chosen from more than 300 submissions representing 53 countries, across 12 categories spanning the infrastructure lifecycle - selected by independent panels of global industry experts for the innovation of their projects, the challenges they addressed and the results they delivered. For more than two decades the annual awards have celebrated infrastructure professionals and their use of Bentley software to improve how infrastructure is designed, built and operated - which makes a finalist berth one of the more credible external benchmarks in the industry.
The company APD keeps in the category says the same thing. The other two Transmission and Distribution finalists are Dar International for Engineering Consultancy (Saudi Arabia), for integrated digital delivery of the Nariyah 380 kV GIS substation, and NV5 (India/United States), for mapping utility infrastructure protection risk across 17,600 miles of grid.
The project behind the entry
Clean Energy Link - North is one of Western Australia's defining transmission augmentations, delivered for Western Power on the South West Interconnected System. APD Global's scope is the detail design of two 330 kV and three 132 kV terminals, twelve line packages, and the protection and communications that tie them together. The substation team carries the terminal design; the full portfolio sits on the projects page.
Why "AI-enabled digital delivery" is not a slogan
Bentley's chief marketing officer, Cate Lochead, made the point in the finalist announcement: this year's finalists demonstrate how infrastructure professionals are using digital twins and AI to deliver highly efficient project outcomes. Bentley's own review of the field backs that up - of the 36 finalist projects, 24 reported using AI in some form, and 22 showed strong or supporting evidence of a connected digital foundation. AI on flagship infrastructure has moved from novelty to expectation.
For APD, that is a description of the working method, not an aspiration - the same team publishes original research on AI-driven brownfield substation design, digital twins and generative layout optimisation at CIGRE Paris Session 2026.
A finalist position judged by independent global experts, against a field of 300-plus submissions, on a live Western Power transmission program - that is external validation of the way APD Global delivers: digital first, AI where it earns its place, and engineering rigour underneath all of it.