A large amount of carbon emissions come from the electric and energy generation industries through non-renewable sources. In spite of societies’ greater awareness in the face of climate change and its consequences, there is no way of proving to a client that the energy consumed through the grid originates from a renewable source. In addition, although in different countries the small energy generators have the chance of pouring their energy surplus into the grid, this system is very inefficient and there is no way to prove how much energy produced by them has been distributed through the energy network. Nevertheless, there is an emergence of technologies focused on the development of smart devices, improvements in communications, and the growth of new definitions on asset and service knowledge using distributed databases (i.e. blockchain) that ensure the reliability of the information, facilitating the conceptualization of the future’s energy grid management. A technology such as blockchain amasses three main traits: cybersecurity, low cost transactions, and automation that will allow the integration into the centralized grid of distributed renewable generation, batteries, and flexible charging at a minimum cost and without compromising its trust. A platform like the blockchain would balance the grid in a simple and safe way from both sides and at the same time, increasing the use of the grid’s assets that normally operate at 50% of their capacity.

 

In ACCIONA we are looking for startups that can help us design the electric grid of the future. How can we guarantee the traceability of energy across the grid? How can we prove the energy is 100% renewable? How can we manage demand? How can we secure the supply chain? How can we ensure that the energy consumed comes from a specific plant? How can we manage the origin certificates in an efficient way?

Solar plants and wind turbines generate variable energy quantities depending on the state of the weather, so electric grids are built to manage power levels we expect at a certain location. However in some cases there is greater sunlight or more wind than predicted and these sources produce more energy than the grid can manage. As more sources of energy generation are installed, issues with intermittence (both by default or excess) of these sources lay on the table the need for better management of the energy excess or its lack-off through storage. However, currently the main solutions in the market are essentially larger versions of lithium-ion batteries that can be found in mobile devices. They can only store energy for a short period of time, and when the charging source is taken out of the equation, these batteries begin to discharge the energy.

 

At ACCIONA we are thus looking for startups that provide solutions within the development of new technologies for storage or power electronics. How can we store energy in another way? How can we store in a sustainable way? How can we manage the intermittence of renewables? How can we manage demand peaks? How can we reduce the cost of battery installation?

Wind plant extension, their remote location, and the difficulty behind their inspection drives the need in improving the efficiency in the tasks that come from their exploitation: maintenance, inspection, data compeling, etc.

To increase the efficiency of wind infrastructure it’s necessary to apply new technology solutions that help in decision making and speed up in data compiling with the goal of exploiting them and thus reduce the number of failures and stoppage of the machines.

Until now photovoltaic technology has been developed with silicon and thin layers. There is an emergence of new module technologies that could have a high impact on design and conceptualization of new photovoltaic plants, such as bifacial modules, multibusbar, organic photovoltaic technology, perovskites…

 

The high impact on the modules and the characteristics in the design, conceptualization, and costs of photovoltaic plants makes it necessary to know how they can contribute in the reduction of energy costs and understand other possible applications (environmental, terrain occupation, sustainability, recycling…) in future developments of large photovoltaic plants.

 

At ACCIONA we are looking for startups that are developing and applying new materials for photovoltaic technology. How can we optimize resources? How can we augment margins? How can we reduce Energy costs? How can we offer added value with more sustainable modules?

Acciona has the need to find new business models in the sphere of renewable energy storage that could offer solutions to challenges in the pouring of energy into the grid (peak demand), empower the storage of energy originating from renewable alternatives, or regulate the frequency.

 

Offer a solution to these issues through the storage of energy would mean a competitive advantage for ACCIONA against its market rivals, by being able to offer a superior level of service than the rest.

The size and extension of Photovoltaic plant difficult their inspection and maintenance.

Many tasks, performed manually or semi-manually to this day, must be digitalized or supported by technology with the goal of automatizing and reducing costs, both in the maintenance and in the data and information  compiling of the plants.

n the design of a wind farm there must be a thorough analysis of the terrain, interferences, building works, close living spaces, etc. The IT applications are heavy and not functional for deployment in the field. There are no agile applications to dispose of a previous digital map where you can include additional information (geolocalization, pictures, panoramas, etc.) with which to work from the office or from the field.

 

Predicting how the rainfall will affect a location allows to anticipate to hydrological calculations, ditch executions, road water pumping… with a 3D digital map with topographical data and terrain composition we could have a rainfall simulation.

 

Once the wind farm is live, remote surveillance is necessary in the face of growing vegetation, fires, construction or infrastructure modifications… or to detect any alteration that could affect these assets.

 

At ACCIONA we are seeking startups that can develop solutions for advanced management of O&M operations. How can we improve efficiency in inspection and maintenance? How can we anticipate to damages done by climate conditions? How can we improve plant growth and its invasion of the infrastructures? How can we improve prediction in maintenance?

The European Commission has made a firm commitment to a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. To achieve this target, the European Green Deal contains a series of measures and policies that will be key to the construction of a modern economy that is efficient in the use of resources, and also competitive. This Deal endorses and speeds up the process of modernisation and transformation of the economy that the European Union began a few years back.

In 2005, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) was approved and implemented. It enabled plants covered by the scheme to reduce their emissions by around 35% between 2009 and 2019. The legislative framework was reviewed in 2018 to speed up emission reductions and accelerate the need of the industrial and energy sectors to apply  measures and investments to deploy innovative technologies that could minimise their carbon footprint.

Due to the fact that the requirements in emission reductions are increasingly demanding, the price of CO₂ emission rights has increased over the last 18 months, from €35 per tonne of CO₂ to almost €60. In this context, industry needs to implement an ambitious decarbonization strategy for its production processes that will allow it to adapt, not only to the climate targets pursued by Europe, but also to the challenges posed by the global market.

The construction of a carbon-free economy poses major technological challenges in a number of processes and sectors. Heat generation processes for industry represent almost 20% of global energy consumption, with an impact in terms of CO₂ emissions. Heat represents almost 75% of the energy demand of industry, which is covered by fossil fuels to 90%. Industries or industrial processes that use heat at medium temperature, such as construction, the food sector, textiles and manufacturing, could reduce their emissions by 90% through electrification based on clean energy sources. Their energy consumption profile makes them ideal for testing Renewable Power-to-X solutions that could be scalable to other kinds of applications.

ACCIONA is launching this challenge to identify Renewable Power-to-X solutions that help our industrial clients using heat at medium temperature to reduce their carbon footprint through the application of alternative technologies to generate heat without CO₂ emissions. Proposed solutions that have the potential to facilitate the re-use of residual heat will be considered positively.

 

The developers of the proposals can either present a comprehensive solution or technologies that, thanks to their hybridization with others, comply with the objective pursued by ACCIONA. If a comprehensive solution is not presented, the proposal should indicate other technological needs required to create the solution.

The world wind power market has quadrupled in size over the last decade and has consolidated itself as one of the most competitive energy sources in the world in cost terms, reaching 743 GW in installed capacity.

ACCIONA Energía builds, operates and maintains wind farms in 25 countries worldwide. With installed capacity of 8,759 MW (2021) and 230 plants in service, wind power represents 80% of the electricity generated by the company every year.

In an electricity generation plant the main risk factor for people (personnel, maintenance technicians and others) is electrical contact. Even though the plants comply with design regulations and standards, defective use -or not following established safety standards- can lead to accidents and serious risk of injury to people. The fact that electricity cannot be perceived by the senses (it has no odour, does not emit noise and cannot be seen) is an aggravating risk factor.

Training is a key element in the prevention of electricity-related incidents, as the human factor is usually involved in 3 out of 4 accidents of this type. ACCIONA therefore considers it important to improve its equipment and systems to help people identify the presence of electric current in both interior and exterior installations, e.g. overhead and underground power lines.

Despite designs that conform to standards, training and improving signage to warn about risks, electrical risk exists both for people working in a wind farm and those outside it.

Therefore, we seek solutions (hardware, software, new materials…) that detect and signal magnetic fields and warn of the electrical risks associated with them. These solutions could be applied to:

• Closed and controlled areas that workers access to carry out operation and maintenance tasks
• Open, uncontrolled areas, for example, where there are underground power lines that third parties could come into contact with accidentally.

The solution could consist of a direct warning of an electrical risk (e.g. a buzzer or a flashing light) or an indirect one (change of status in the presence or absence of current).

Since 2011, more than 100 gigawatts of new renewable capacity has been installed year on year, surpassing the capacity added every year by fossil fuels and nuclear power. The market share of renewables increased to 29% in 2020, in comparison with 27% in 2019.  The International Energy Agency (IAE) estimates that electricity from renewable sources in 2021 will grow by more than 8% to reach 8,300 TWh, the strongest inter-annual growth since the 1970s. Two-thirds of this growth will come from photovoltaic solar and wind power.

 

The grid connection of renewable energy sources involves major challenges due to the intermittent nature of supplies. In a market in which the market share of renewables is estimated to reach 40-70% by 2050, electricity market operators and power generators need to get actions under way to ensure the stability of operations and energy supplies.

In this context, grid codes appear as a vital element for the integration of variable renewables, as they set the rules under which the electric power system operates. These take the form of a series of guidelines and requirements that solar and wind power generation plants have to comply with to connect to the grid in each region.

In the case of wind farms, compliance with grid codes is a complex undertaking, as the changes in available capacity due to fluctuations in the wind resource can create problems in terms of the quality of the energy.

 

ACCIONA has more than 8,700 MW of wind power capacity under its ownership in 14 countries (Spain, the US, Mexico and Australia, among others). The functioning and operation of each wind farm needs to be compatible with the security and stability requirements established by grid codes. These codes are specific to each country or region, as they respond to the particular nature of each electric power system. They are also subject to continuous review, as they need to evolve to adapt to the changing needs of each system.

 

Compliance with grid codes has a direct impact on the profitability of renewable assets. For example, in Australia compliance with grid codes is regulated by law and non-compliance is considered a civil offence and is subject to sanctions. Therefore, it is essential to have tools that allow us to ensure that the operation of a wind farm is in line with the stability and security requirements laid down in each place in order to maximise its performance.

ACCIONA is launching this challenge to identify the tools and/or technologies that will allow us to improve grid integration and compliance with grid codes for wind farms consisting of doubly-fed turbine technologies (type 3). The proposed solutions should:

• Be able to be modelled and simulated in software such as PSSE, digsilent and pscad
• Analyse and manage the performance of generation assets under real conditions at the turbine and wind farm levels
• Allow, define and automate strategies to maximise the performance of plants, ensuring compliance with the grid codes in force
• Include control algorithms with the parameters defined in grid codes to ensure that the operation of plants complies with established stability and security requirements. In this respect, one of the aims is to improve, in weak grid situations (SCR lower than 5), aspects such as fast voltage control at the point of connection (response time below 5 seconds), fast frequency control at the point of connection (response time below 5 and 1 seconds) and the input of reactive and active current at the wind turbine and wind farm levels (POC) at aggressive (high droop) and fast (response time below 70 microseconds) levels, and control during voltage dips
• Be adaptable and scalable for deployment in different target markets.

Tools with different degrees of technological maturity will be taken into account. The proposed solution does not need to be fully developed at the time of presenting a proposal.