Utility Week Live: The hack was back

Greg Jones reports on Utility Week Live's award-winning hackathon which this year looked for groundbreaking solutions around electric vehicles, big data and demand-side response.

Featuring a total of four challenges, the 2019 Future Systems Hackathon saw 20 hackers take on their choice of task over two days with the guidance of mentors Igem’s Ian McCluskey, Navigant’s Roberto Rodriguez, and Electralink’s Dan Hopkinson.

With interaction increasingly seen as key to discovering workable answers to the challenges facing utilities today, the joining of the two sister titles and co-located events for the hackathon at the NEC was an ideal way to bring together both audiences of industry professionals and sustainability leaders along with technology solutions providers.

Hackers were allocated between each title and given two challenges, with the Utility Week team focusing on supporting the rollout of EVs and using data and technology to improve customer service. Edie’s team centred on creating tools to best understand and utilise big data, and to help understand and implement demand-side response (DSR).  Hackers, working solo or in a pair, then devoted the relatively short time span to developing a ground-breaking solution to one of these pressing problems of the future.

Around lunchtime on the second day, with the event eclipsing 24 hours of continuous work time, participants were invited up to present their projects to their peers and watching delegates.

One project was scalable modular asset control (SMACK). Its developer said it was intended to solve a problem with DSM (demand-side management) adoption that he had frequently heard from his conversations with delegates. Many of those he asked had spoken of the great difficulty connecting systems in DSR schemes as there was no common layer to use, forcing the creation of expensive and time-consuming bespoke systems.

To solve this, he suggested the creation of a common modular platform to more easily integrate devices, increasing the ease and accessibility of creating solutions.

Another was Charger Predict, a tool designed to find the ideal locations to place EV charging stations. It uses data that details population, geographical density of EVs, area energy usage, types of chargers used, and proportion of cars that regularly use public chargers in a local area to identify what areas are most in need of new installations.

A further project concerned with electricity was SolarSpaces, an app designed to help the planning and funding of collectively-owned solar panel arrays. The app would theoretically allow users to upload pictures and details of locations they have found that might be suitable for arrays, and then guide them through the availability of the location and process of gaining planning permission. Other users can then buy stakes in the array and fund its construction. Once completed, the owner would be able to use the app to direct the usage of their share of the power generated, whether that be using it in their homes, storing it in batteries, or selling it back to the grid.

One of the last projects presented was a revamp of the design and procedure of the way EVs are sold to the public. The participants referenced a study saying that it took up to three months for most drivers to understand their new EV and feel comfortable with it.

To improve the situation, they suggested a drastic redesign of car showrooms, ditching the ultra-modern designs for something reminiscent of a stereotypical garage to help EVs appear as normal, everyday vehicles, rather than daunting, complex technologies.

They were also concerned with creating a more informative buying experience, having salespeople who are highly informed about the products they are selling, so that they can quickly and easily answer customer questions and resolve their fears and anxieties.

Event organiser, Underland’s Kevin Lewis said: “The challenges this year were a lot harder than last, and with that in mind I am amazed that the number of projects built actually exceeds last year. Hackers effectively engaged with all of the themes, and the addition of industry mentors really helped form project ideas.

“I really enjoyed the SMACK project. It was well conceptualised and looked nice too. I also really liked SolarSpaces.

“I’m an experienced hackathon organiser, but the only unknown is always how hackers will interpret and answer the challenges – and I’m happy with the outcome.”