Prize
This is a two phase challenge, with a total of US$100,000 in development funding and cash prizes available. Additionally, winners will have the opportunity to demonstrate their technology for NextEra Energy and to receive guidance and feedback from NextEra Energy experts.
Phase 1:
Up to three top-scoring proposed technologies will receive development grants of $20,000. The grant money will be used to develop the proposed technology for a field trial at one of our wind projects. The winning technologies will be selected based on evaluations made by an internal judging panel against the evaluation criteria listed below.
Phase 2:
The winning technologies from phase one will each be applied to an actual wind turbine at one of our wind projects. Field trial performance will be evaluated on turbine operational data gathered during the trial and other criteria that will be provided to the participants. Based on field trial results and NextEra Energy Resources’ determination of feasibility, one grand prize winner, if selected, will receive a $30,000 cash prize and any selected runners-up will each receive $5,000 cash awards. In addition, opportunities for further development and eventual deployment at our wind farms may be available.
Timeline
Pre-registration begins October 17, 2017
Open to submissions October 24, 2017
Phase 1 Submission deadline February 28, 2018 at 10pm PT
Phase 1 Judging March 1-12, 2018
Phase 1 Winners Announced March 13, 2018
Phase 2 begins March 14, 2018
Phase 2 Submission deadline June 14, 2018
Field Application of Phase 2 Submission(s) July 2018 to September 2018
Testing of Phase 2 Submission(s) October 2018 to February 2019
Phase 2 Winner(s) Announced Spring 2019
How do I win?
Winners, if any, will be determined by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC in its sole discretion. To be eligible for an award, your proposal must, at minimum:
- Satisfy the Judging Scorecard requirements
- Thoughtfully address the Submission Form questions
- Be scored higher than your competitors
- Demonstrate real-world feasibility as determined by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC in its sole discretion
Solutions must, at a minimum:
- Prevent ice from forming on wind turbine blades and/or remove ice that has already formed on wind turbine blades
- Be demonstrable and accompanied by supporting data
Judging Criteria
Section
|
Description
|
Overall Weight
|
Cost
|
- Cost per wind turbine generator does not exceed $40,000.
- Technologies costing less than $15,000 per wind turbine generator strongly preferred
|
30
|
Performance
|
- Actively prevents or reduces ice adhesion
- Reduces loss of power generation due to icing
- Active use of technology has no significant impact on efficiency
- Ideally, technology activates automatically. At a minimum, all units at one location can be controlled simultaneously
|
30
|
Durability
|
- Regular maintenance minimized (cleaning, reapplication of coatings, etc)
- Ease of repair and availability of repair parts
|
15
|
Ease of Implementation
|
- Technology can be installed on existing wind turbines
- Complexity of installation and time required is low
|
10
|
Technical maturity
|
- Ideally, technology can be field tested. At a minimum, technology can be demonstrated in laboratory.
|
15
|
Total
|
|
100
|
Rules
Participation Eligibility:
The challenge is open, without geographic limitation, to individuals age 18 or older, who may participate individually or as part of private or public teams, including collegiate teams, as well as partnerships, companies, and corporations.
No specific credentials, qualifications or expertise in the field of ice mitigation is required. Prize organizers encourage outside individuals and non-expert teams to compete and propose new solutions.
No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the challenge as defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement.
Registration and Submissions:
Submissions must be made online (only), via upload to the HeroX.com website, on or before 10 p.m. PST on February 28, 2018. All uploads must be in PDF or Word format. No late submissions will be accepted. All submissions must be made in English. All challenge-related communication will be in English.
Intellectual Property Rights:
As detailed in the Challenge-Specific Agreement – the winning innovator(s) will retain any and all applicable intellectual property ownership rights to their technology.
Selection of Winners:
Based on the winning criteria, prizes will be awarded per the How Do I Win? section above. Winning entries, if any, are determined in the sole discretion of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.
Judging Panel:
The determination of the winners will be made by a panel of judges with appropriate credentials selected by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.
Additional Information:
- No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.
- By participating in the competition, each competitor agrees to submit their original solution.
- All applications will go through a process of due diligence; any application found to be frivolous, misrepresentative, plagiarized, or reliant upon intellectual property rights of others without authorization may, as determined by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, be deemed ineligible.
- All ineligible applications may be removed from the competition with no recourse or reimbursement.
Void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.The winner is responsible for any applicable federal state or local taxes on any prize received. In order to claim a prize, additional releases and/or waivers of liability may be required by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.