Innovative solutions to reduce the maintenance cost of public lighting in cities

Published on Monday, 5 August 2019

Challenge Expiration Date: September 20, 2019

Reward:

$10,000

Abstract

Enel believes that innovation is indivisible from sustainability and research of most effective and sustainable technologies requires a constant and focused effort. Enel is seeking solutions to reduce the cost of maintenance of public lighting systems.

This Theoretical Challenge requires only a written proposal.

OVERVIEW

Enel would like to optimize the costs of construction, operation and maintenance of the street public lighting (intended as a complex system consisting of an electrical panel and its components, i.e. lines, supports, arms and lighting bodies). For this particular Challenge, the Solver should focus on technologies/best practices that can reduce maintenance costs or man-hours of maintenance activities.

Submissions will include a technical description of the technology/best practice and evidence of its ability to lower cost and/or man-hours on the maintenance of public Lighting Systems.

This Challenge provides contribution to the following SDGs:

SDG 9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE - Invest in infrastructures that promote sustainability.
SDG 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Anyone can participate in this Challenge, but the Seeker is especially interested in solutions from maintainers in the electricity sector (low voltage, DSO (Distribution System Operator), possibly with experience in Public Lighting, both part of the Enel sector and operators working with our competitors.

There is a potential for possible collaboration with the Seeker after the Challenge.

- Register now to start solving this Challenge! The full description challenge will be available to log in users only. -

For questions about the challenge and your proposal you can contact EnelOpenInnovabilityChallenges@innocentive.com

Description

BACKGROUND

One of Enel’s goals is to optimize the costs of construction, operation and maintenance of the street public lighting (intended as a complex system consisting of an electrical panel and its components, i.e. lines, supports, arms and lighting bodies).

ENEL owns, operates and/or manages (on behalf of municipalities) street public lighting infrastructure in Europe and Latin America. The costs of maintenance of these facilities are significant and so even a small savings of time and money can be substantial overall. Enel is looking for solutions to lowering the cost of maintenance of light systems for the facilities they maintain.

Note the Seeker is not looking for remote control monitoring systems, (for example, putting a device on each light pole and sending back data/alarms.) Those types of systems either exist or are being studied currently. That is technologies that are of most interest to the Seeker are those that can be deployed on the subcontractor side of maintenance.

THE CHALLENGE

Enel would like to identify innovative solutions and best practices to reduce the cost of the maintenance of public lighting assets (a complex system consisting of an electrical panel and its components, i.e. lines, supports, arms and lighting bodies). These solutions and best practices can come from other industrial sectors. There is a need for tools/technologies that reduce time and the cost for maintenance. The list below shows a list of potential areas of interest in the maintenance sector: category and activity. Note the list is not exhaustive and other areas could be considered.

BRACKET

Bracket replacement
Bracket Installation

CIVIL WORKS

Road & sidewalk / any pavement digging activities including its reconstruction
Pole plinth installation / construction

INSPECTION / CENSUS

Night inspections of lighting system
Labeling

LAMP

Lamp replacement

LINE

Junctions replacement
Junctions box replacement
Aerial cable replacement
Terminal block replacement
Fault searching on Public Lighting electrical installation
Underground cable duct cleaning
Underground cable replacement

LUMINAIRE

Luminaires Replacement
Luminaires Installation
Luminaires optique cleaning
Power supplier replacement

POLE

Pole replacement
Pole Installation
Pole painting
Anticorrosion poles base protection replacement
Pole both static and dynamic testing

POWER PANELS

Power switchboard inspection including maintenance and lines insulation resistance testing
Power switchboard inspection including maintenance and circuit breaker timing tests
Insulation resistance measurement
Earth ground resistance testing

A secondary objective is to identify potential partners in the public lighting O&M (Operation and Maintenance) sector (low voltage – see the list below and Table 2 attached at the bottom of this page) who can help them implement solutions and best practices. Solvers should let the Seeker know if they have interest in potential future collaboration.

Any solution must be sustainable environmentally and economically, with a favorable return on investment (ROI) that can be directly related to costs and man-hours reduced.

ITALY

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 220-240
FREQ. (Hz) 50

SPAIN

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 220-240
FREQ. (Hz) 50

ROMANIA

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 220-240
FREQ. (Hz) 50

CHILE

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 220-380
FREQ. (Hz) 50

BRAZIL

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 127-220 (Rio), 220/380 (Cearà)
FREQ. (Hz) 60

COLOMBIA

RATED VOLTAGE (V) LL: 208-480
FREQ. (Hz) 60

ARGENTINA

RATED VOLTAGE (V) 220-380
FREQ. (Hz) 50

Submissions must have the following Solution Requirements:

The innovative solution must be able to be applied to usual O&M activities such as those in Table 1(attached) or equivalent.
The innovative solution must reduce the cost / the intervention time of the single maintenance activity of public lighting.
Solutions connected to “remote control systems” are to be excluded as well as everything that cannot be quantified from an economic point of view and man-hours "avoided". It is a preference of the Seeker to target subcontractor maintenance activities.
Any best practices have to be verified and documented. (not just an “idea”)
Solutions should provide technology to reduce the cost services. Solutions should have a global context (that is, they would be transferable to different parts of the world).
All solutions must be safe and comply with any local regulations and be sustainable environmentally and economically.
Solutions should support Enel’s commitment on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) with specific emphasis on SDG9 and SDG11.
The proposed technology should offer Enel “freedom to practice” or be available for potential licensing. There should be no third party patent art preventing the use of specific equipment and materials for their commercial application.

In addition, the following qualities are highly desired but not required:

Easy installation
Reasonable investment costs
Existing commercial solution (or minimally at a pilot/demonstration stage)

PROJECT DELIVERABLES

The submitted proposal should include the following:

Detailed technical description of an approach that can meet the above Solution Requirements.
Rationale for the proposed technology/best practice, including direct cost and man-hours savings.
If a best practice, provide documentation of its proven record and savings.
If available, drawings for any devices, schematics for installation and rough estimations of costs (e.g. investment, operational, maintenance) and power consumption.
Provide information on any known limitations.

The proposal should not include any personal identifying information (name, username, company, address, phone, email, personal website, resume, etc.) or any information the Solvers may consider as their Intellectual Property they do not want to share.

Challenge rules

This is a Theoretical Challenge, which requires only a written proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be contingent upon theoretical evaluation of the submission by the Seeker.

To receive an award, the Solvers will not have to transfer the exclusive IP rights to the Seeker. Instead, Solver will grant to the Seeker a non-exclusive license to practice their solutions.

In case the winner will be an external solver (not Enel Employee), a potential collaboration with Enel X could be negotiated after the acceptance of the award.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (CET) on September 20th, 2019.

Late submissions will not be considered.

Specific regulation in the CSA attached at the bottom of this page.

What happens next?

After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the Winning Solution(s). All Solvers that submit a proposal will be notified on the status of their submissions.

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 creativity;
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 with Enel”, once suitable solution/s have been 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.

Upon completion of the evaluation, you will receive feedback.

In case of success, an Enel contact person will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.

The final award for this Challenge is contingent upon satisfactory completion of the verification process, including acceptance of the Challenge-Specific Agreement (CSA) that is the regulation for this Challenge.

The verification process includes obtaining the following from the Solver: signed affidavit (based on the CSA), employee waiver (if applicable), and proof of identify.

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.