Description

BACKGROUND

Periodic tree pruning comes with high associated costs in all countries and its schedule. Additionally, is difficult to program due to the unknown growth speed of different plants. Because of this, a new need arises: the optimization of vegetation maintenance activities through the use of Vegetation Growth Estimation systems, to decide the proper trimming frequency for each area as a function of its peculiar kind of vegetation and climate. Expected benefits of the system include:

• Optimisation of vegetation trimming activities considering the peculiarities of each area;
• Reduction of maintenance costs as a consequence of the above mentioned benefit;
• Scheduled vegetation trimming on demand;
• Better control over the outsourced work.

THE CHALLENGE

The scope of this Challenge is to identify an algorithm capable to estimate, as accurately as possible, the plants’ growth considering historical meteorological observations and forecasting in the area under evaluation, collected information on the essence and other elements (such as ground composition) which can affect the vegetation growth.

In general, the Vegetation Growth Estimation algorithm should satisfy the following Solution Requirements:

• Be based on collected data (must have), provided by LiDAR/photo/video inspections and georeferenced vegetation maps, such as:
  • Different vegetation species;
  • Historical weather conditions and altitude;
  • Ground geography (also taking into account different perimeters such as Europe, Asia and Latin America …), composition, altitude and slope.
  • Plants growth detected between two consequential inspections.
  • Other variables that could affect vegetation growth.
• Elaborate growth forecasts that will be used to prevent violations of the clearance profiles close to the power lines (must have);
• Elaborate its forecasts by areas (must have);
• Have a Maintenance Management Tool (nice to have) that considers the above mentioned data and forecasts to:
  • Elaborate maintenance plans/actions prioritized and grouped by area, taking into consideration also technical and economic constraints, width of the clearance profiles close to the power lines and different trimming prescriptions of every area (due to regional or national law constrains, due to particular situation such as national park or protected areas, etc);
  • Monitor maintenance works and update the state of the vegetation after the trimming activities carried out by subcontractors.
• Improve the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI):
  • OPerational EXpenses (OPEX) reduction/increase*;
  • Number of failure events on the overhead lines due to vegetation;
  • Number of incidents due to lack of guard distances.

*the use of this system could lead to an increase of the trimming activities w.r.t. the current periodical interventions. Even if in this case maintenance costs would increase, failure events due to vegetation could be avoided.

• Any proposed solution should have at least TRL 4 (Technology Readiness Level), which means: design, development and lab testing of components / processes. Results provide evidence that performance targets may be based on projected or modeled systems.

[innovation], [technology], [artificial intelligences], [algorithm], [IoT], [growth-sensor], [growth prediction], [satellites], [drones], [robots], [self-driving cars], [predictive maintenance], [safety], [maintenance efficiency]

DELIVERABLES

The submitted proposals should include:

1. Video - it is appreciated if the Solvers will submit a video that summarises the proposal and allows Enel to do a quick initial screening of proposals
2. Collaboration Proposal including:
   1. A description of the proposed system with an explanation of how the Solver proposes to address all the Solution Requirement. The Solver can withhold proprietary information, if necessary, but should provide convincing evidence for ENEL to appreciate the merits of the approach and be comfortable that the solution can effectively work;
   2. A brief discussion of capabilities and relevant prior experience that are relevant for the development of the solution and success of the post-Challenge collaboration;
   3. The Solver should explain what they can provide and what might be required of the Seeker. For example: “I can provide with the expertise, but I would need the Seeker to facilitate access to data”;
   4. A brief overview of the proposed path forward along with a plan for validation (e.g. deliverables, timelines, milestones, and cost estimates);
   5. The Solver should indicate the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of the solution.
3. General Information about the Solver including:
   1. The key contact person for this Challenge (including phone number and email address). 
   2. Organization/Company name and address (including website, if available)

(NOTE: For most Challenges, Solvers are not allowed to include personal contact information; however, for an eRFP Challenge, it is required.)

Challenge rules

This is an electronic Request-for-Partners (eRFP) Challenge. The Solver will write a preliminary proposal as described above to be evaluated by the Seeker with a goal of establishing a collaborative partnership. Upon completion of the evaluation, the Seeker may contact selected Solvers directly to work out terms for a collaboration.

IMPORTANT NOTES

• The call is open only to already established companies (start-ups and SMEs) from any country around the world. Individuals are not eligible.
• For successful and selected Solvers Enel will provide financial and technical support to develop and test the technologies and selected solutions in the Innovation Lab located in Milan. Startups and SMEs will have access to testing infrastructures in addition to being connected to national and international stakeholders thanks to the global network of Enel Innovation Hubs.
• The Enel’s investment will be in the co-development or in testing activities: for each project the necessary amount and the modalities will be evaluated together with the Solver.
• If the test/PoC will be successful, Enel will offer a concrete opportunity to scale-up the solution by adopting it on its own business through commercial agreements.
• This challenge has a specific Regulations and it is available as attachment at the end of this page. Read the Regulations to see terms and conditions of this challenge and to see if you can take part to the contest. All proposers are invited to read it keeping in mind that submitting a solution they automatically accept the Regulations other than the Terms of Usage of this platform.

A webinar will be organized on the 19th of November for a Q&A session from 3 pm to 5 pm by connecting to THIS LINK

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (CET) on January 10, 2019. Late submissions will not be considered. However, we suggest to apply before the 5th of December 2018 in order to allow our experts from different business lines to have more time to deep dive into your solution..

After the Challenge deadline, Enel will complete the review process and all proposers will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be

What happens next?

After and during the application deadline (10 January 2019) an Enel technical panel will evaluate your proposal and might contact you to gather additional information.

To give our experts time to ask you questions we suggest to apply before the 5th of December 2018.

• Your innovative proposal will be evaluated based on technical parameters (Solution Requirements), economic and business impact for Enel. The presentation of the proposal will also be evaluated.
• At the end of the assessment, you will receive feedback.
• In case of success, Enel contact staff will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.

ABOUT INNOCENTIVE

InnoCentive collaborates with Enel to manage this challenge.

InnoCentive is the global innovation marketplace where creative minds solve some of the world's most important problems for cash awards up to $1 million. Commercial, governmental and humanitarian organizations engage with InnoCentive to solve problems that can impact humankind in areas ranging from the environment to medical advancements.