Open Innovation Challenge 2021: Offshore Grid Integration

In the context of the European Green Deal and the EU’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050, offshore wind generation is playing a vital role in accelerating the decarbonization of the energy mix.

To unleash the untapped potential of higher full-load hours of wind power generation at sea, offshore grid operation is entering a new phase of development with multiple challenges and opportunities to improve the planning, building and operation of the necessary transmission infrastructure. To improve security, efficency, sustianability and cost, the Elia Group Open Innovation Challenge invites start-ups from around the world to come up with innovative solutions around the following four focus areas:

1) Sustainability:  

• Solutions to protect and foster ecosystems while reducing the environmental footprint in the construction and operation of the offshore grid.

2) Remote operation and maintenance: 

• Technologies such as IoT, robotics, AI, VR and AR, could increase efficiency and quality of fault detection and maintenance and decrease the need for physical access to enhance the safety of operations and provide greater flexibility. 

3) Grid Integration: 

• Solutions that tackle technical challenges such as integrating offshore cables to the grid, improve forecasting and facilitate sector coupling. 

4)  Out of the box solutions:  

• The offshore grid is a means to transport electricity from the offshore windmills to the grid. There may be co-benefits such as grid extensions for offshore data centers, production of energy (tidal power), fishing purposes, telecom, and scientific purposes. Surprise and challenge us!