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American-Made Challenges

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Digitizing Utilities: Round 2

Help electric utilities tackle data and cybersecurity challenges to advance grid reliability/resiliency and mitigate cybersecurity risks

This challenge is closed

stage:
Judging
prize:
$2,150,000

This challenge is closed

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Summary
Timeline
Updates24
Forum22
Teams310
Entries
Resources
FAQ
Summary

Overview

Following a successful Round 1, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity launched Round 2 of the $2.15 million Digitizing Utilities Prize, with support from DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. This prize connects utilities with interdisciplinary teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems and data analytics for utilities in the energy sector. 

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. 

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 have the option to focus specifically on addressing cybersecurity threats and risks through demonstrated improvements in risk identification, analysis, prediction, or proactive response for enhanced protection of digital energy infrastructures.

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
  • Making operational data available for use within utilities while maintaining security
  • Automating data anonymization and data set creation for secure sharing with outside researchers and third parties.

For the Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 2, DOE has a specific interest in problems and solutions around cybersecurity, including mitigating the most significant cybersecurity threats and risks to U.S. critical infrastructure.

Competitor Tracks

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

Track 1: Utility Digitization/Data Challenge 

Track 2: Utility Cybersecurity Challenge

Competitors must identify whether the solution applies to Track 1, Track 2, or both within the application. Applicants who choose to compete in both Track 1 and Track 2 are eligible to receive prizes from both tracks. 

Phases and Prize Amounts

This competition has two phases—Plan and Progress—to drive accelerated development of the most promising ideas. 

Phase 1 – Plan

Competitors will connect with a utility partner, identify a data and/or cybersecurity challenge, and propose a solution to that problem. Teams will then demonstrate a thorough understanding of the problem, as well as their ability to access relevant resources that can be leveraged for this prize.

Track# of WinnersPrize Amount
Track 1: Utility Digitization/Data ChallengeUp to 9$75,000 cash prize each
Track 2: Utility Cybersecurity ChallengeUp to 2$175,000 cash prize each

For more information on Phase 1 and the required submission materials, please review the Official Rules. Any questions unanswered in the rules document can be asked during the prize’s upcoming webinar or raised in the Forum Tab, where a prize administrator will publicly respond.

Phase 2 – Progress

Competitors will work side-by-side with their selected utility partner on their presented issue for 6 months to develop and refine a software solution that addresses the issues that the utilities are dealing with. At the end of Phase 2, teams will present their progress toward implementing their solution.

Track# of WinnersPrize Amount
Track 1: Utility Digitization/Data ChallengeUp to 3

$200,000 cash prize each

$75,000 voucher each

Track 2: Utility Cybersecurity ChallengeUp to 1$300,000 cash prize

 

Competitor Eligibility 

The competition is open only to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits); nonfederal government entities such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities; academic institutions; and individuals, subject to the requirements in the Official Rules.

Past competitors of the Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 1 are encouraged to reapply with updated submission materials; however, teams who won any phase of Round 1 are discouraged from submitting the same or similar idea to this round or any future round of the prize.

 

Form a Winning Team

Whether you’re a single applicant searching for a utility partner or a utility team seeking a teammate with a particular skillset, our prize partners can help you search for the right fit. Learn more during a 30-minute conversation with prize partner, yet2.

Timeline
Updates24

Challenge Updates

OE Seeking Feedback on Round 3 Prize Focus Areas

Nov. 21, 2024, 1:40 p.m. PST by NREL Prize Moderator

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity today announced plans to launch Round 3 of the Digitizing Utilities Prize in early 2025. Currently, the prize team is seeking more information from utilities and related partners on industry challenges related to: 

  • Distributed resource integration and decision-making under uncertainty
  • Sensors and/or analytics testing and validation of use cases utilizing public data, demonstration, and potentially the Grid Event Signature Library.

The team is also seeking industry challenges specific to utilities and/or regulators to the prize topic areas in which outside entities are likely able to address as they relate to grid data analytics, digitization efforts, and interconnection with distributed energy resources (DERs), such as:

  • Photovoltaics
  • Wind
  • Hydropower
  • Energy storage
  • Any combination of the above (and others!). 

If you’re interested in providing your thoughts on the above topics, we encourage you to read more about Round 3 and submit your feedback by Dec. 19. Additional details, such as prize amounts and submission materials, will be shared in 2025. 

Questions? Email us at .


Phase 2 Submissions Due TOMORROW

Nov. 13, 2024, 3:52 p.m. PST by NREL Prize Moderator

Hey, competitors! 

TOMORROW, Nov. 14, is the submission deadline for Round 2 Phase 2 of the Digitizing Utilities Prize. The prize administrators highly recommend uploading all materials ahead of the 5 p.m. ET deadline to avoid any potential delays or technical difficulties. We will not accept late submissions. 

Resource Recap

We can't wait to review your Phase 2 submissions! 


Progress Phase Reminders!

Aug. 28, 2024, 9:30 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

Reminders for all teams:

  • Competitors should be working with their utility partner to develop and refine their identified solutions from Phase 1.
  • All teams, regardless of track, are also required to participate in the Virtual Demo Day on December 10th. A finalized and complete schedule will be released roughly 30 days prior to the event.
  • Competitors are encouraged to review the latest version of the Official Rules, found under the Resources tab in HeroX.
  • The Progress Phase webinar recording and slide deck can be found under the Resources tab.

Reminders for Competitors in the Utility Digitization/Data Challenge Track:

  • Competitors should review the new Progress Phase narrative question regarding your plans for a national laboratory voucher.
  • Competitors are encouraged to review the Voucher Guidelines, which can also be found under the Resources tab.

Upcoming Phase 2 Webinar - August 19th 1PM EST

Aug. 9, 2024, 1 p.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

All teams competing in either the Utility Digitization/Data Challenge Track or the Utility Cybersecurity Challenge Track should begin, if not already have begun, working with their utility partner to develop, test, and implement their identified solution for their Progress Phase submission.

 

The Digitizing Utilities Prize Team will be hosting a Phase 2 webinar on August 19th at 1PM EST to cover Phase 2 submission details, the virtual demo day, and vouchers. Team captains will receive an email link to the webinar. 


Congratulations Phase 1 Track 2 Winners!

July 30, 2024, 8 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response recently announced two Phase 1 Track 2 winning teams of the Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 2. The following teams will now move on to Phase 2 of the prize where they’ll continue to develop their proposed solutions with the additional winners from Track 1. 

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Fend Incorporated, Unleash Data and Physically Block Cyberattacks 

  • Utility Partner: Matanuska Electric Association, Inc (MEA) 
  • Project Partner: Fend Incorporated 
  • This team aims to expand the number and types of equipment across MEA’s infrastructure to be monitored by Fend’s data diode technology, as well as integrate this data into alerting platforms that make use of predictive analytics to help MEA spot problems before they occur. Watch an overview of their solution.  

LATEOS, GRID-CARE 

  • Utility Partner: Holy Cross Energy 
  • Project Partner: Siemens 
  • This team aims to identify the most critical threats affecting power systems operations based on AI-tools and power system simulations, taking into direct consideration their impact on the power system operation, as quantified by key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be defined to better fit the operator’s procedures and needs. Watch an overview of their solution. 

Forum22
Teams310
Entries
Resources
FAQ