Challenge: Fiber optic cable installation within operational hydroelectric canals

Do you have a solution that can install fiber optic cables in canals in hydroelectric plants during operation?

The pipeline systems at these renewable plants can stretch to tens of kilometers, may be pressurized, and have limited access. Your system or solution for cable installation will preserve resources, reduce outages, and ensure continued generation of renewable energy.

Technicians installing empty pipes for fast fiber optic internet across the city – illustrative photo. Image credit: Mika Baumeister via Unsplash, free license

We invite your proposals for effective and reusable methods of cable installation.

This is an electronic Request-for-Partners (eRFP) Challenge; the Solver will need to submit a written proposal to be evaluated by Enel Green Power  with the goal of establishing a collaborative partnership.

Overview

To continue its work in renewable energy, Enel Green Power is looking to improve the efficiency and sustainability of fiber optic cable installation, helping to interconnect the hydraulic plant parts and optimize its management. Enel is looking for proposals or solutions for installing fiber optic cables in waterways that are in tunnel and in-use, applicable across different pressures, canal shapes, and lengths.

The canals that interconnect a hydroelectric plant may span multiple kilometers, as well as being either pressurized or open-flow, and away from urban areas/in mountainous regions.

Enel sees these waterways as providing an opportunity for a connected solution – linking various parts of the plant through a fiber optic network that can be leveraged for monitoring, maintenance, and reporting.

However, currently these canals would need to be emptied of water to install cables and perform maintenance checks.

Enel Green Power is therefore looking for proposals around the best available solutions to install cables within in-use canals in tunnel either pressurized or open-flow. In partnership with Enel, your approach will preserve resources, maintain a critical renewable source, and unlock greater sustainability in operation.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (Central European Time) on May 29, 2023.

Source: InnoCentive

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