Inspection of Electrical Substations

Iberdrola has over 1.1 million kilometers of electricity transmission and distribution lines, spread throughout the United States, Brazil, the UK and Spain. This network comprises over 4,400 high to medium voltage sub-stations and more than 1.5 million medium to low voltage distribution transformers, built and operated to provide a high-quality and reliable service to a total of 31 million electricity supply points.

On many occasions, Iberdrola's engineers find breakdowns in the switchgears that are originate from the assembly and cannot be detected during factory tests, nor during the visual inspection procedures by the teams. Some examples of these faults include: power cable errors in making the terminal connections, incorrect connection of unconnected earth strips, auxiliary items that have not been fitted, among others.

The repercussions of these failures in the insulation manifest in the form of partial discharges.

Currently, these high-frequency phenomena can be detected by a number of methods, such as ultrasound or transmitted or radiated fluctuations. Thus, partial discharge detection techniques are used in very high voltage substations for very expensive equipment, such as underground cables and GIS substations. From these measurements, Iberdrola's highly- specialized staff analyze the results and finally establish the root of the problem.

The problem here is that these are costly and complex methods that also require sophisticated equipment. Furthermore, during assembly and disassembly operations of critical equipment, one of the following actions is also required:
• Installing permanent monitoring systems.
• De-energizing the installation during assembly and disassembly of the partial discharge sensors.

The cost and complexity of these jobs, as well as the difficulty of de-energizing the facilities, make their application in high and medium voltage systems unviable.

Given this context, Iberdrola launches this new challenge in the search for competitive, innovative solutions that make it possible to identify anomalies when assembling switchgear at medium and high voltage substations.

The Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub is the new global innovation and knowledge center that will be a world reference in smart grids and will enable it to respond to the challenges of the energy transition.

The center will act as a driving platform for innovation, combining the company's technological capacity with that of collaborators: suppliers, universities, technology centers and startups. It will also attract strategic suppliers and international talent, thereby strengthening the business ecosystem.

Iberdrola has already identified more than 120 projects for future development with a value of 110€ million. The lines of work, which are international in scope, will enable the development and deployment of innovative solutions for the activity of Iberdrola Networks throughout the world.

For more information, visit the website.

The Iberdrola Group is no stranger to collaborating with startups. The group actively seeks to generate mutually beneficial partnerships and to facilitate the implementation of the best ideas.

The renewables leader was 20 years ahead of the current energy transition and has now got an unprecedented 75-billion-euro investment plan up until 2025 to maintain its position at the forefront of the energy revolution the world's leading economies are facing, consolidating its business model based on more renewable energies, more grids, more storage and more smart solutions for customers.

Today, Iberdrola has over 1.1 million kilometers of electricity transmission and distribution lines, spread throughout the United States, Brazil, the UK and Spain. This network comprises over 4,400 high to medium voltage sub-stations and more than 1.5 million medium to low voltage distribution transformers, built and operated to provide a high-quality and reliable service to a total of 31 million electricity supply points - the perfect test bed for your solution!

The "Inspection of Critical Systems at Substations" Challenge is looking for simple and low-cost solutions that identify anomalies during cell assembly work in medium and high voltage substations.

During the assembly of critical equipment in high and medium voltage substations diagnostics must be applied to the insulation of these facilities. This reqiures simplified procedures designed for detecting any assembly problems. Iberdrola is therefore seeking solutions that meet the following criteria:
• Simple measuring systems, suitable for non-specialist staff
• Solutions that can be applied to energized switchgear during the assembly and test stage, but without load
• Solutions that can also be used during subsequent servicing, with the installation under load
• Solutions that provide automatic assessment of the measurements (e.g. "correct/incorrect") in order to determine the need to check the assembly work, without requiring evaluation of the damaged equipment
• Solutions that also involve simple assembly where de-energization of the facilities is not required for installation

When you win the Challenge, the main prize will consist of you signing a collaboration and proof of concept agreement with Iberdrola/Perseo.

For the collaboration of the pilot project, Iberdrola will:
• assume the costs of the collaboration and the proof of concept
• provide you with the necessary technical support to test the solution proposed
• give you access to equipment, appliances, infrastructure, high technology sites and joint work areas
• provide you with a real environment and real data to test your solution

Additional benefits include:
• scaling your solution by means of commercial agreements directly or indirectly through another Iberdrola group company
• a possibility for investment in your company through PERSEO
• adding your solution to Iberdrola's service territory if the PoC succeeds

The winner of the challenge will sign a partnership contract with Iberdrola and be able to test their solution in a real environment.

For the collaboration of the pilot project, Iberdrola will:
• assume the costs of the collaboration and the proof of concept
• provide the necessary technical support to test the solution proposed
• give access to equipment, appliances, infrastructure, high technology sites and joint work areas
• provide a real environment and real data to test the solution

The pilot project will be developed in collaboration with the technical specialists from the Iberdrola.

You are welcome to submit more than one proposal, just make sure to submit a separate application form for each.

The application period for this challenge ends on 5 April 2021.

The proposals will be analyzed based on criteria of:
• Reliability and appropriateness for high and medium voltage systems (HV and MV)
• Simplicity of use and interpretation of results
• Usage cost for installations at the commissioning stage and in operational facilities

The analysis of the offers will be carried out by experts in the network business of Iberdrola's group.