Digitizing Utilities: Round 2

Following a successful Round 1, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity launched Round 2 of the $1.85 million Digitizing Utilities Prize, with support from DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. This prize connects utilities with interdisciplinary teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems and data analytics for utilities in the energy sector. 

The electricity sector is facing an “explosion” of data coming from a variety of sources. 

Recent advances in sensor technologies allow utilities to access fast-streaming data sets, challenging traditional methods of data acquisition, use, and storage. To fully utilize the massive influx of data from these sensors, the electricity sector must undergo a transformation in how it manages data quality, storage, and processing. 

The Digitizing Utilities Prize supports competitors as they develop innovative solutions to transform data analytics and system digitization for utilities, such as energy use data, synchrophasor data, weather data, fire assessment data, and more. In Round 2, innovators have the option to focus specifically on addressing cybersecurity threats and risks through demonstrated improvements in risk identification, analysis, prediction, or proactive response for enhanced protection of digital energy infrastructures.

Through this prize, teams will identify a utility partner facing a digitization, data, or cybersecurity challenge and propose a solution for solving it. Proposed challenges and solutions must have an implementation path within the utility partner. Topics can include, but are not limited to:

• Addressing data quality, interoperability, and processing at the source of data generation within a utility
• Increasing a utility’s resilience to cyberattacks
• Integrating data sets across different sources, including both inside and outside a utility
• Developing data analytic systems to improve resilience and system operation, including predicting asset health and maintenance needs
• Utilizing energy data to improve energy equity efforts within a utility
• Developing data analytic systems to address wildfires, earthquakes, storms, and other natural hazards
• Providing better data visualization and informational displays as well as enhanced user experience to operators and engineers at utilities
• Improving a utility’s ability to evaluate and integrate new software tools
• Automating menial operational and analytical tasks within utilities in a transparent manner
• Making operational data available for use within utilities while maintaining security
• Automating data anonymization and data set creation for secure sharing with outside researchers and third parties.

For the Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 2, DOE has a specific interest in problems and solutions around cybersecurity, including mitigating the most significant cybersecurity threats and risks to U.S. critical infrastructure.

Competitor Tracks

This prize invites competitors to propose software solutions meet challenges in one or both competitor tracks:

Track 1: Utility Digitization/Data Challenge 

Track 2: Utility Cybersecurity Challenge

Competitors must identify whether the solution applies to Track 1, Track 2, or both within the application. Applicants who choose to compete in both Track 1 and Track 2 are eligible to receive prizes from both tracks. 

Phases and Prize Amounts

This competition has two phases—Plan and Progress—to drive accelerated development of the most promising ideas. 

Phase 1 – Plan

Competitors will connect with a utility partner, identify a data and/or cybersecurity challenge, and propose a solution to that problem. Teams will then demonstrate a thorough understanding of the problem, as well as their ability to access relevant resources that can be leveraged for this prize.

For more information on Phase 1 and the required submission materials, please review the Official Rules. Any questions unanswered in the rules document can be asked during the prize’s upcoming webinar or raised in the Forum Tab, where a prize administrator will publicly respond.

Phase 2 – Progress

Competitors will work side-by-side with their selected utility partner on their presented issue for 6 months to develop and refine a software solution that addresses the issues that the utilities are dealing with. At the end of Phase 2, teams will present their progress toward implementing their solution.

Competitor Eligibility 

The competition is open only to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits); nonfederal government entities such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities; academic institutions; and individuals, subject to the requirements in the Official Rules.

Past competitors of the Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 1 are encouraged to reapply with updated submission materials; however, teams who won any phase of Round 1 are discouraged from submitting the same or similar idea to this round or any future round of the prize.

Form a Winning Team

Whether you’re a single applicant searching for a utility partner or a utility team seeking a teammate with a particular skillset, our prize partners can help you search for the right fit. Learn more during a 30-minute conversation with prize partner, yet2.