Transcend, developer of a generative engineering platform for water, wastewater and power infrastructure, has announced two new enterprise AI capabilities for its Transcend Design Generator (TDG): Ask TDG and MCP Gateway. Ask TDG brings a grounded AI assistant into the TDG platform, while MCP Gateway enables governed access to selected TDG engineering capabilities through authorised AI environments.
The Princeton, New Jersey-based company, which made the announcement on 13 October 2026, said the capabilities are intended to help utilities, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and engineering teams understand TDG methods, explore and format outputs with greater flexibility and carry trusted project data forward from early planning into the workflows that follow.
Two routes for enterprise AI
MCP Gateway gives authorised customer and partner AI environments governed access to selected TDG engineering capabilities and structured outputs through Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard. When a utility’s AI calls a selected capability, TDG performs the engineering and the results support the utility’s analytics, digital initiatives and downstream workflows.
Ask TDG is an AI assistant inside TDG that answers plain-language questions about the engineering methods, calculations and technology-selection approaches the platform uses. Responses are grounded in TDG’s technical documentation, so that teams can more easily understand the reasoning behind each option. According to Transcend, Ask TDG does not change engineering results, perform calculations or replace expert review.
Keeping the engineering deterministic
“Utilities are being asked to evaluate more options, protect long-term asset performance against changing environmental conditions and avoid budget and scope creep risk, all with limited engineering capacity,” said Transcend Founder and CEO Ari Raivetz. “Investment decisions have often rested on precedent and early estimates, with the true scope coming into focus only once preliminary design begins, causing cycles of revision and rework. TDG moves preliminary design earlier in the planning process, so asset owners start with real engineering data. Now, enterprise AI can help teams explore more alternatives, understand TDG results and carry structured engineering data into the workflows they already use—without risking an non-deterministic model inventing or hallucinating the engineering.”
TDG is a design engine for critical infrastructure built on deterministic, traceable, first-principles engineering logic. Transcend describes this approach as generative engineering, in which every calculation is traceable to established engineering principles and to the utility’s own design standards. The new AI capabilities are designed to help teams initiate tasks, analyse structured results and format engineering data with more flexibility.
Preliminary designs in minutes
For wastewater and drinking water treatment plants, electrical substations and pump stations, a utility team enters basic project criteria such as flows, loads, treatment objectives and site constraints, and TDG produces a complete preliminary design in minutes. Process, civil, mechanical, electrical and structural calculations run in a single engine, so a changed assumption updates every discipline together.
Each design package includes process diagrams, 3D building information modelling (BIM), equipment lists, bills of quantities, operating expenditure (OPEX) estimates and a basis of design, which the company says gives utilities the engineering definition to compare options and prioritise capital investments before budgets are set.
Shared standards through TDG Nexus
Both new capabilities are built around the same governed TDG platform. TDG Nexus, an existing ecosystem for sharing approved utility standards and technology specification packages across authorised teams, underpins the engineering foundation. Utilities can choose to share their own design standards packages through Nexus, and technology specification packages from OEMs such as Xylem and DuPont can be applied to designs. H2O Global News has previously reported on Transcend’s expansion into surface water treatment and design standards capabilities.
Users and availability
Transcend says TDG is active in more than 120 countries, where engineers have used it to generate more than 20,000 designs, impacting 652 million people. Users include Sabesp, Severn Trent, Scottish Water and Mekorot, as well as regional and municipal providers. Five of ENR‘s 2026 Top 500 Design Firms, including WSP, STV and CHA, design with TDG. H2O Global News has also covered how WSP adopted Transcend’s generative design technology.
Utility, OEM and engineering teams can book an Ask TDG consultation, while enterprise AI, digital engineering and strategic partner teams that run their own AI environments can request an MCP Gateway briefing through Transcend’s website.
About Transcend
Transcend develops the Transcend Design Generator (TDG), a cloud-based generative engineering platform for water, wastewater and power infrastructure. Built on deterministic, first-principles engineering logic and each utility’s own design standards, TDG produces complete, traceable preliminary designs in minutes. Commercially available since 2019, TDG is used in more than 120 countries. Transcend is SOC 2 compliant and headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with an engineering office in Budapest, Hungary.
Frequently asked questions
They are two enterprise AI capabilities for the Transcend Design Generator (TDG). Ask TDG is an AI assistant inside the platform, and MCP Gateway gives authorised AI environments governed access to selected TDG engineering capabilities.
No. Ask TDG answers plain-language questions about TDG’s engineering methods, calculations and technology-selection approaches, grounded in its technical documentation. It does not change engineering results, perform calculations or replace expert review.
MCP Gateway uses Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard. When a utility’s AI calls a selected capability, TDG performs the engineering and the results support the utility’s analytics, digital initiatives and downstream workflows.
TDG produces preliminary designs for wastewater and drinking water treatment plants, electrical substations and pump stations. Design packages include process diagrams, 3D BIM, equipment lists, bills of quantities, OPEX estimates and a basis of design.
Users include Sabesp, Severn Trent, Scottish Water and Mekorot, as well as regional and municipal providers. Five of ENR’s 2026 Top 500 Design Firms, including WSP, STV and CHA, design with TDG.
