THE CURRENT SCENARIO

The underground installation of Medium (up to 34.5 kV) or Low Voltage (up to 1kV) cables is very complex and time-consuming.

Field operators and external partners spend a long time identifying underlying infrastructures (gas, water, public lighting), digging, laying the ducts, installing the cables, jointing them, closing the excavation, and then reinstating the initial conditions of the pavement.

Currently the activity of underground line installation follows these general steps:

1.      Excavation of a trench: the dimensions and location of which will depend on the voltage of the network, other underground infrastructure interference and specific local requirements.

2.      Laying of the protective plastic duct that will contain the cable.

3.      Covering the plastic duct with a first layer of backfill material (sand or other appropriate material) with a warning strip on top.

4.      Closing of the trench with native soil and restoration of the asphalt or sidewalk original condition.

These activities could have different conditions, depending on local and private conditions of the area in which it is done, meaning each context may have differences in:

·      Interference with existing or foreseen underground services

·      Depth of the excavated trench.

·      Material used for the covering layer.

·      Type of restoration to be implemented.

These underground activities are generally applied in several countries at the global level where Enel Grids usually operates. The principal context is the urban, from the center to the close suburban area, where the space limitation for cable installation is important, as well as traffic of the vehicles that reduce the work shift to night hours.

For example, in Brazil, the prevailing infrastructure across urban, sub-urban, and rural areas relies heavily on overhead power lines. Recognizing the need to enhance network resilience against weather events and improve the overall quality of service, there is a growing initiative to promote the undergrounding of electrical lines.

THE CHALLENGE

Enel Grids is seeking innovative solutions to enhance the installation of underground cables of Medium and Low Voltage lines, reducing the effort and/or the required installation time of the entire process. The aim of the Challenge is to optimize, simplify, and speed up the cable installation process. This can be achieved by Participants either through improving the current process or proposing a new process for the installation.

The successful participant will have the potential opportunity to trail their solution on site in Sao Paulo (Brazil), other testing site in Italy or Spain can be evaluated according with the Applicant. Participants are therefore encouraged to consider, in their application, the urban viability of the proposed solution.

Currently, when using the trenching system, it takes 20 days to lay 1km of medium-voltage cable. In the same context, when using the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) process, it takes 6-10 days to lay 1km of cable. The complexity of the process is outlined above in the Current Scenario.

Enel will evaluate solutions on the basis that those can achieve:

·      A faster step-by-step underground cable installation process – quicker than 20 days to lay 1km for trenching, or quicker than 10 days to lay 1km by HDD

·      Simpler steps compared to the current underground cable installation process.

These improvements can be achieved by reducing the impact of the activities required for each step during the whole installation process:

1.      Trenching

2.      Laying the protection plastic duct

3.      Covering the plastic duct

4.      Closing the trench

For example: trenching is usually a construction method that involves digging a narrow trench in the ground for the installation, maintenance, or inspection of cables.  It is important to consider that cable reels used by Enel are 300 m long, so they would need to dig at least 300 m between jointing boxes or transformers vaults.

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS

In this Challenge, Participants are invited to submit innovative solutions that either improve the current process used by Enel or propose a new process altogether. Withing their application participants must show the effectiveness of the improvement of Enel’s current process or novel proposal. Participants must show and demonstrate that the solution can operate and be effective across at least one of the following three use cases (a higher score will be given to solutions that can be applied in more than one use case):

1.      500m - 1km cable

2.      1km- 3km cable

3.      3km - 5km cable

Considering your solution should work across one or more of these use cases, it should also be separated from specific contexts related to the presence of other underground infrastructures and interferences with the traffic:

·      Urban (higher priority and more score in the evaluation):

-  Underground Infrastructure: High presence

-  Traffic: High

·      Sub-urban:

-  Underground Infrastructure: Moderate presence (e.g., utilities for residential areas, some fiber optic lines)

-  Traffic: Moderate (commuter traffic, local road networks)

·      Rural:

-  Underground Infrastructure: Low presence (primarily essential utilities, limited high-speed networks)

-  Traffic: Low (mostly local and agricultural vehicles)

Participants should also consider that the context’s soil can vary. Below are some typical soil types in areas like Sao Paulo, Brazil (list not exhaustive):

·      Urban soils: heterogeneous materials, debris.

·      Cohesive soils (Argissolos, some Latossolos/Cambissolos).

·      Non-cohesive soils (some Cambissolos)

·      Indurated layers (some Latossolos)

·      Rocky soils (Neossolos Litólicos, outcrops)

The solution MUST have:

In general, the solution needs to satisfy the following must-have requirements:

·      Automatic or semi-automatic tool for cable installation activities

·      Result in the least possible impact due to excavation and installation activities

·      Social disruption to an area - in terms of time spent and sustained noise

·      Time of installation - less than 20 days per 1km if trenching, or less than 10 days when using the HDD (Horizontal Directional Drilling).

·      An innovative technology development phase at least with Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of > 6

·      Avoid interference with other cables and existing wiring, telecommunications, water, sewage etc.

·      Compliant with your national regulation

Your solution can also satisfy these nice-to-have requirements:

·      Enel has an existing process for mapping underground utilities before conducting work. However, if you are proposing a new tool, having the functionality for alerting, pre-identification, and mapping of underground utilities, this would be of interest to Enel Grids.

·      Process or improvement that increases the ease or simplicity of maintenance of the cable once installed.

·      Trenchless technologies would be of interest taking into account this is a distribution network with many supply points along the route

DELIVERABLES

Proposals shall be submitted to the platform openinnovability.com in a single stage and shall include a document with the following sections:

·      Solution name/title and overview 

·      Solution detailed description including:

o  Solution characteristics

o  Technology readiness level (TRL) of the proposed solutions.

o  Geographical area of application and reason why.

o  Examples of technology application and reference industry if any.

o  Advantages and weaknesses of the proposed solution compared to the current way of working.

o  Constraints or technological gaps for the solution adoption.

o  Description of the most suitable use-cases according to the performance and characteristic of the proposed solution. If your solution can work within multiple environments, soil types and cable lengths, please detail each separately.

·      Data, case studies, patents and journal references or any additional material that supports the proposed solution.

·      A detailed and clear estimation of the final price of the solution, indicating the estimated cost reduction you can achieve with your solution compared to commercially available devices (single phase)

The proposals for this Challenge will be assessed by ENEL GRIDS on the basis of the criteria below:

·      Compliance with the Challenge’s request and the quality of the solution, including must-haves and nice-to-haves, as specified on the Open Innovability® Challenge’s page;

·      Viability of solution implementation during trial period within a urban environment located specifically in Sao Paulo – (Brazil). We can evaluate alternative testing scenarios in Italy or Spain.

·      Degree of innovation;

·      Solutions that are not generally known or easily accessible to experts in the sector;

·      Technical and normative compliance;

·      Replicability in different contests and countries (applicability in Brazil will imply an higher score in the evaluation)

·      Economic and realization feasibility.

The presence of a legal headquarters in Brazil will be a favorable factor in our evaluations