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Digitizing Utilities Prize

Connecting utilities with teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems in the energy sector for utilities.

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Summary

Overview

The Digitizing Utilities Prize

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity launched the $1.1-million Digitizing Utilities Prize to connect utilities with interdisciplinary teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems in the energy sector through data analytics, processing, quality assurance, storage, and deletion.

Recent advancements in the energy industry have enabled utilities to collect more data than ever before, challenging traditional methods of data acquisition, use, and storage. The Digitizing Utilities Prize supports competitors as they work directly with utility partners to develop software solutions to improve how the energy industry manages, stores, and processes these large data sets.

This Digitizing Utilities Prize supports DOE’s commitment to accelerating research, development, and demonstration of new technologies and tools within the electricity sector to advance reliability, resilience, and affordable operation of the power system.

 

Plan and Progress Phases

The Digitizing Utilities Prize supports competitors as they work directly with utility partners to develop software solutions through two phases: Plan and Progress. This approach will drive accelerated development of the most promising ideas.

Phase 1 – Plan: Teams of developers (e.g., software developers, automation engineers, data scientists) will form robust teams that are willing to solve one of the utility issues presented. Teams must demonstrate that they have an understanding of the problem and propose how they would solve the problem.

Up to nine winners of Phase 1 will receive a cash prize of $75,000. 

Phase 2 – Progress: Winning teams will work with the utility partners over six months to implement their proposed solution by developing a software solution that addresses the issues presented by the utilities. Teams must demonstrate how their methods and process could be utilized by other utilities in the future.

Up to four winners of Phase 2 will receive a portion of the $425,000 total cash prize pool. 

 

Prize Tracks and Utility Partners

Interested competitors may choose to collaborate with one of the predetermined industry partners supporting the Digitizing Utilities Prize or select a separate utility and existing digitization or data challenge for their proposal. Submissions must identify which of the following tracks their proposal aims to support. 

Track 1 – Load Modeling (Bonneville Power Administration)

Competitors will use load modeling to help correctly forecast future power demands, specifically addressing the dynamic nature of weather-sensitive loads for residential and commercial buildings. 

Track 2 – Data Analysis Automation (Dominion Energy)

Competitors will propose methods for automation of data analysis to help engineers scrutinize and evaluate a data-driven approach to resolving nuanced complexities across the system.

Track 3 – Competitor-Identified Challenge

Teams with an existing utility partner may apply with their own digitization or data challenge and proposed solution. Eligible topics are outlined in the official prize rules. 

 

Competitor and Technology Eligibility 

The Digitizing Utilities Prize is open to private entities (for-profit and nonprofit), and non-federal government entities (such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities, academic institutions, and individuals) in the U.S. Employees of the predetermined track challenges (Track 1 and 2) are ineligible to apply. Teams participating in Track 3 can be led by a utility or an independent with a preexisting utility partnership. 

For more information, including complete eligibility requirements, please review the official prize rules. 

View Prize Rules for more information


Guidelines

Please review the official rules for the complete submission process and instructions for participating. 

 

Timeline
Updates8

Challenge Updates

Phase 1 Winners Announced!

March 9, 2023, 9:31 a.m. PST by Prize Administrator

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Office of Electricity (OE) today announced the nine Phase 1 winners of the inaugural American-Made Digitizing Utilities Prize. This $675,000 prize – $75,000 for each team – connects utilities with interdisciplinary teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems in the energy sector through data analytics, processing, quality assurance, storage, and deletion.  

“The electric industry sector is facing a massive amount of data from various sources, challenging traditional methods of data acquisition, use, and storage,” said Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for Electricity. “There is an emerging need to quickly process large data sets to improve reliability and resilience of the electric grid and meet new demands from the integration of renewable energy.”  

Phase 1 of the Digitizing Utilities Prize invited developers to solve predetermined utility challenges. Competitors worked on utility partner challenges within one of three tracks to propose software solutions that improve how the energy industry manages, stores, and processes data. Judges selected three teams from each track — nine in total — to receive a $75,000 cash prize and advance to Phase 2 of the competition where they will have the opportunity to work directly with the partner utilities.

Track 1 – Load Modeling 

Competitors worked with Bonneville Power Administration to use load modeling to help correctly forecast future power demands, specifically addressing the dynamic nature of weather-sensitive loads for residential and commercial buildings. The Track 1 winners are: 

  • Load Forecast Using Autoencoder and Regression (Rolla, MO) – Missouri University of Science and Technology and Grid Vision Technologies aims to estimate load composition and forecast load-using machine learning and regression methods. 
  • The Data Wave of the Future (Arlington, VA) – This team will use machine-learning modeling techniques to provide insights into the distribution network to characterize weather-sensitive loads. This team will use a distributed computing platform to run the models and develop workflows to process and organize the data. 
  • Occam.ai (Seattle, WA) – This team provides analytics and highly configurable scenario-based forecasts using a unified, easy-to-use interface. It will allow users to upload location-specific historical data, analyze the current system, design future scenarios, and share results with other planners and stakeholders. 

Track 2 – Data Analysis Automation 

Competitors worked with Dominion Energy to propose methods for the automation of data analysis to help engineers scrutinize and evaluate a data-driven approach to resolving nuanced complexities across the system. The Track 2 winners are: 

  • Toward Real-Time High-Sampling-Rate Monitoring (Chattanooga, TN) – This team is developing data analytics functions using phasor measurement unit and point-on-wave data for asset diagnostics and performance evaluation systems. 
  • Automatility (Cary, NC) – This team is developing a modular, platform-agnostic systems integrator focused on utility needs for data integrity, transformation, visualization, historical analysis, and alarm thresholding. 
  • ScaLaDE – Scalable Labeling for Data Enrichment (Princeton, NJ) – This team uses machine learning to enrich large datasets with event labels by incorporating domain knowledge from power system experts. 

Track 3 – Competitor-Identified Challenge 

Competitors with an existing utility partner identified their own digitization or data challenge and proposed solutions. The Track 3 winners are: 

  • Expedite Integration of EV in Distribution System (Riverside, CA) – This team is developing an integrated and data-driven planning platform that predicts feeder-level EV adoption, forecasts charging profiles and analyzes impacts on the distribution network. 
  • Digitizing Distribution System Model Validation (Orlando, FL) – This partnership between the University of Central Florida and Duke Energy Corporation is developing a system to identify the root causes of model mismatch by combining domain knowledge with first principles and data analytics.  
  • Leverage AMI Data with ML to Mitigate Wildfires (Gillette, WY) – This team will use machine learning to review voltage and load interval data from smart meters to detect physical connection issues to mitigate wildfires. 

In Phase 2 of the Digitizing Utilities Prize, these Phase 1 winning teams will have six months to work with utility partners to implement their proposal and demonstrate how other utilities in the future could use their software solution. Up to four winners of Phase 2 will receive a portion of the $425,000 total cash prize pool.


Reminder - Prize Deadline Tomorrow (January 26)

Jan. 25, 2023, 1:48 p.m. PST by NREL Challenge

All Digitizing Utilities Phase 1 - Plan submissions are due tomorrow, Thursday, January 26th at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The Official Rules and submission template can be found in the Resources section of HeroX

Be sure to upload your completed submission well before the deadline to avoid potential delays that may arise due to technical difficulties. Submissions will not be accepted after 5 p.m. ET.

We look forward to receiving your submission.


Watch the Q&A with Utility Partners

Jan. 13, 2023, 2 p.m. PST by Prize Administrator

On Thursday, January 12, 2023, the Digitizing Utilities team hosted a Q&A session with our two utility partners: Bonneville Power Administration and Dominion Energy. If you missed the webinar, the recording is now available. 


Meet the Utilities! Join Our Upcoming Q&A With Utility Partners

Jan. 4, 2023, 9:01 a.m. PST by Prize Administrator

As the Phase 1 deadline for the Digitizing Utilities Prize approaches, we want to be sure to answer all your final questions. Join us on Thursday, January 12, 2023, from 3-4 p.m. MT for a webinar hosted by our two utility partners: Bonneville Power Administration and Dominion Energy! 

Prior to this event, we encourage participants to share questions in the HeroX Challenge Forum under the topic of “Questions for Utilities.”

Register for the upcoming webinar: https://nrel.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_ynSWhRRdRueBnIur4B2KbA 


Reminder: Prize Resources Now Available

Nov. 30, 2022, 10:26 a.m. PST by Prize Administrator

The Digitizing Utilities Prize administrators have collected several resources to support teams with their Phase 1 submissions. You can find these resources, along with the official prize rules, under the “Resources” section on HeroX. 

 

  • Grid Signature Library: The Grid Signature Library initiative at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is focused on the development of the well-defined, curated, and free-to-access smart library to increase the resilience and swift response against malfunctions of grid infrastructure.
  • North American SynchroPhasor Initiative: The mission of the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) is to improve power system reliability and visibility through wide area measurement and control, by fostering the use and capabilities of synchrophasor technology.
  • Big Data Synchrophasor Analysis: These eight projects supported by the Department of Energy explore the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning technology and tools on phasor measurement units data to identify and improve existing knowledge, and to discover new insights and tools for better grid operation and management.
  • Transmission Reliability Program: The Transmission Reliability Program was established to support collaboration between the national labs, electricity industry, and Department of Energy to develop technologies that keep the nation’s electric grid resilient and secure, while cutting electricity bills and facilitating the integration of renewable energy.
  • Power System Sensing, Data Processing, Analysis, and Visualization: A collection of additional resources for electricity data developed by the Department of Energy.

Forum10
Teams190
Resources
FAQ