Abstract
By using technologies such as advanced automation solutions, collaborative robots, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and digital tools, EGP can increase the number of tasks that can be performed remotely or autonomously. These innovative and sustainable solutions will be integrated into the portfolio of tools that have already been adopted and will allow EGP to operate and maintain renewable plants in a remote way.
Description
SCENARIO
Enel Green Power aims to foster the development of sustainable progress and adopt innovative solutions that accelerate the transition towards a fully renewable and sustainable method of generating electricity. Innovation and digitalisation are two of the key ingredients to achieve this growth.
EGP is a multinational company with a global presence. The company is working to establish new standards in the field of sustainable energy, constantly pushing technological boundaries.
With around 3,029 MW of renewable installed capacity worldwide in 2019, EGP set a new record by building around 190 MW more than was built in 2018 and thus reaching a total managed renewable capacity of about 46 GW.
BACKGROUND
Enel Green Power has already integrated different innovative and advanced solutions in its daily operation and maintenance activities. These solutions include drones and remotely operated vehicles for inspections, augmented reality tools for training and remote support, as well as artificial intelligence tools for advanced diagnostics. By identifying new innovative solutions and leveraging cross ideation from other sectors EGP has been resilient it its path of continuous improvement.
Currently several operation and maintenance activities of renewable plants are still carried out by personnel directly on site. Enel Green Power would like to reshape the O&M procedures in order to reduce the number of workers on site and to support the safety and effectiveness of operating personnel. EGP has already adopted solutions with this objective in mind. The business line now aims to foster this transformation further by deploying solutions that will increase the efficiency and sustainability of operation and maintenance procedures.
THE CHALLENGE
Enel Green Power seeks solutions that can help facilitate the operation and maintenance activities of its renewable plants such as solar and wind plants. The desired solutions should be safer and quicker and should be capable of increasing the number of tasks that can be performed remotely or autonomously.
Through the use of technologies such as advanced automation solutions, collaborative robots, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and digital tools, EGP can support renewable plants through more automated and efficiently managed tasks.
Innovative solutions will be integrated into the portfolio of tools that have already been adopted. These will allow EGP to operate renewable plants, which are often unmanned and in some cases are located in remote areas in order to guarantee a safe, effective and efficient work environment. By improving these processes, the company will be able to contribute to the energy transition and become more resilient.
The following includes technical fields and possible applications of interest:
- Solutions that enable robot activities and guarantee efficiency of O&M processes (e.g. connectivity solutions for remote areas, positioning tracking solutions for robots and workers in indoor environments)
- Technologies that enable faster and more effective management of power plant inspections (e.g. autonomous robots for wide area inspections of solar power plants, autonomous robots for confined space inspection in hydro power plants, robots for wind blade anomaly detection)
- Techniques that monitor and assess the state of health of components within power plants (e.g. concrete infrastructure, PV module, wind turbine components)
- Solutions that facilitate and speed up maintenance and repairing activities (e.g. self-repairing materials for wind blades)
- Solutions that facilitate and accelerate third party access procedures to power plants and guarantee safety and social distancing.
Solutions are not limited to the above topics. All solutions that support the achievement of the challenge objective will be evaluated.
SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS
Submitted solutions must meet the following requirements:
- Reduce the time, cost and number of people needed for operation and maintenance activities in photovoltaic and wind sites (if applicable to other fields it will be considered a plus)
- TRL ≥ 6
- Applicable to the business within a maximum period of 12 months
- Applicable in different weather and climate conditions.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
The submitted proposal should consist of a detailed technical description based on the solution requirements, including:
- Examples of technology application or prototypes and reference industry if any.
- Advantages and weaknesses of the proposed solution compared to the current way of working.
- Constrains or technological gaps for the solution adoption.
- Externalities and requirements needed to implement the solutions like connectivity, space needed, roads availability, energy supply, etc.
- Data, case studies, patents and journal references or any additional material that supports the proposed solution.
- Cost estimation of the proposed solutions.
This challenge provides contribution to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to transform our world:
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action.
Challenge rules
All proposers are invited to read carefully the challenges and the Regulation of this challenge, attached below in the Attachments section, before submitting a solution.
By submitting a solution they automatically accept the attached Regulations other than the Terms of Use of this platform.
Explain your proposal clearly and attach documents if needed (max 5 files, 25MB total size).
ELIGIBILITY
This Campaign is dedicated to startups, scaleups and SMEs, incorporated in any country, with a technology and/or solution with TRL ≥ 6.
CHALLENGE, AWARD, IP RIGHTS
This is an electronic Request-for-Partners (eRFP) Challenge. The Solver will write a preliminary proposal to be evaluated by the Seeker with the goal of considering a collaboration
All intellectual property rights, if any, in the idea or concept demonstrated by the Proposed Solution will remain with the Solver.
DEADLINE
Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (Central European Time) on November 30th, 2020.
Late submissions will not be considered.
Specific regulation in the CSA attached at the bottom of this page.
What happens next?
The Enel Innovation Hubs team will evaluate the Proposals, getting in touch with the Solver if additional information is needed.
Following this preliminary evaluation, the Proposal(s) that meet the requirements of the Challenge will be further evaluated by one or more relevant Enel companies and/or business lines.
Enel will evaluate the proposal using the following criteria:
- Overall scientific and technical feasibility of the proposed solution;
- Economic potential of concept (e.g. Total Cost of Ownership);
- Business potential for Enel;
- Novelty and not obviousness;
- Potential for proprietary position (i.e., is the technology novel or protectable);
- User’s capabilities and related experience;
- Realism of the proposed solution;
- Maturity level of the proposal.
In case the reward includes “Collaboration and testing agreement”, once suitable solution/s will be identified, Enel will reserve the opportunity to start a collaboration, by way of example, all or part of the following activities:
- Test execution;
- Supply of prototypes (if an equipment);
- Installation and site tests;
- Follow up and monitoring of the proposed idea behavior.
At the end of the assessment, you will receive feedback.
In case of success, an Enel contact person will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.