Seeking: NREL Digitizing Utilities Prize Challenge

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Overview:

The Digitizing Utilities Prize supports competitors as they develop innovative solutions to transform data analytics and system digitization for utilities, such as energy use data, synchrophasor data, weather data, fire assessment data, and more. In Round 2, innovators also have the option to focus on addressing cybersecurity threats and risks through demonstrated improvements in risk identification, analysis, prediction, or proactive response for enhanced protection of digital energy infrastructures.

Background:

The electricity sector is facing an “explosion” of data coming from a variety of sources.

Recent advances in sensor technologies allow utilities to access fast-streaming data sets, challenging traditional methods of data acquisition, use, and storage. To fully utilize the massive influx of data from these sensors, the electricity sector must undergo a transformation in how it manages data quality, storage, and processing.

Possible Solution Areas:

This prize invites competitors to propose software solutions that meet challenges in one or both competitor tracks:

Track 1: Utility Digitization/Data Challenge
Track 2: Utility Cybersecurity Challenge

Through this prize, teams will identify a utility partner facing a digitization, data, or cybersecurity challenge and propose a solution for solving it. Proposed challenges and solutions must have an implementation path within the utility partner. Topics can include, but are not limited to:

Addressing data quality, interoperability, and processing at the source of data generation within a utility
Increasing a utility’s resilience to cyberattacks
Integrating data sets across different sources, including both inside and outside a utility
Developing data analytic systems to improve resilience and system operation, including predicting asset health and maintenance needs
Utilizing energy data to improve energy equity efforts within a utility
Developing data analytic systems to address wildfires, earthquakes, storms, and other natural hazards
Providing better data visualization and informational displays as well as enhanced user experience to operators and engineers at utilities
Improving a utility’s ability to evaluate and integrate new software tools
Automating menial operational and analytical tasks within utilities in a transparent manner

Desired outcome of the solution:

Utility partnership to facilitate the transformation of digital systems, data analytics, and cybersecurity for electric utilities.