One of the ways of managing energy resources distributed in a centralised manner on a small and medium scale is through virtual power plants. Thanks to Cloud technology, Virtual Power Plants allow you to add the capacities of different distributed renewable energy resources to improve energy generation, network management and the selling of electricity to the market.

At ACCIONA, we’re looking for startups that can provide new solutions for the energy transition and help us move towards the decentralised electrical system of the future through the addition of distributed energy resources on a B2B level. How can we connect the different distributed renewable energy generators to the Smart Grid? How can we integrate storage systems with them? How can we improve the efficiency of the predictions of generation and consumption? How can we provide more flexibility and new services in the value chain of the energy market with the management of distributed resources?

The addition and ever-increasing market penetration of renewable energy (particularly wind power and photovoltaic solar power) into the different electronics marketplaces is leading to unstable electricity prices, leading to temporary fluctuations and prices which can sometimes even become negative. Transactions and adjustments in the electronics markets tend increasingly towards the shorter term and they are moving towards real time. On the other hand, the distributed generation’s development will have a more acute impact on the operation and management of electronic markets. Because of this, we need ever-more-advanced tools to take real-time decisions for the processes of selling and market participation – as much for energy markets as for adjustment services or auxiliary services.

At ACCIONA, we are looking for start-ups to help us proceed with the digitisation of engagement processes in energy market management and adjustment services. How can we incorporate automatic and smart decision-making tools? How do we develop prediction, scenario analysis and engagement strategies? How do we optimise revenue derived from the sale of power and / or adjustment services? How do we adapt to different situations and their development? And how do we do this in real time?

We find ourselves currently immersed in a new era for digitization: 4.0 industry, intelligent sensors, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, Big Data and analytics, 5G, 3D printing, drones, microsatellites, Blockchain technology… The energy transition, which we can now envision is possible thanks to renewable energy’s competitiveness. All these advanced technologies offer new opportunities to transform the processes of operating, maintaining and monitoring at the facilities which generate renewable energy such as wind power, photovoltaic solar power and hydroelectric power.

At ACCIONA, we are looking for start-ups to help us transform the process of operating, maintaining and monitoring the generation assets. Which technologies can we integrate? How do we develop advanced uses for new technologies? How do we improve efficiency and process by integrating technological changes?

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) solutions have a direct impact on the technical and economic performance of renewable generation assets. They improve the availability of plants and increase the net production of energy per year and reduce the cost of energy (LCOE), which has a positive impact in terms of return on investment.

The gradual penetration of advanced technologies allows progress to be made towards a management model for plants with a minimum presence of operators in them. The gradual incorporation of technologies that are already consolidated in the industrial sector, such as robotics, will make it easier for certain maintenance tasks -those that traditionally required the physical presence of operators on site- to be done remotely. The combination with data analysis techniques and machine learning will facilitate the monitoring, supervision and automated control of all generation assets in real time, either in isolation or aggregated. The sophistication of data analysis technologies, the improvements made in processing models and the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems will also allow progress towards the design of diagnosis and prognosis models that provide granular information at the asset and plant level, and to design optimised maintenance plans for the medium and long term.

ACCIONA Energía has a portfolio of 8,589 MW in wind farms, 30 large-scale photovoltaic plans (either owned by the company or operated for clients) with a total capacity of over 1,500 MWp, 61.5 MWp in solar gardens and 85 substations. ACCIONA is an expert in O&M solutions for clean energy assets. It works on its own O&M solutions from a perspective of prevention, safety and innovation, allowing it maximise production volumes throughout the working life of the assets. To do this, ACCIONA has its own Renewable Energy Control Center (CECOER), from where it supervises the operation of renewable energy plants in real time, managing data from more than 400 facilities.

The CECOER records more than 500,000 incidents a year in the facilities monitored. Of these, 60% are solved remotely, avoiding more than 250,000 local operations. Continuing to improve the efficiency of O&M involves increasing the percentage of incidents solved remotely, reducing the probability of them occurring, and making progress towards autonomous management and resolution.

ACCIONA Energía is launching this challenge to identify tools and solutions based on disruptive technologies that enable the implementation of a facility management model that has a minimum presence of operators on site. The solutions proposed should be in line with one or more of the scopes indicated below:

 

• Robotic technology for autonomous inspection, maintenance and repair on site
• Autonomous solutions that allow real-time diagnosis of the status of the plant and the assets that comprise it
• Advanced data processing models to define medium- and long-term maintenance programmes based on ‘state of health’ and asset performance models.

 

In any case, the proposed solutions should have the ultimate aim of extending the working life of the assets and make their technical and economic performance more efficient.