On 15^th October, the final day of the Russian Energy Week forum, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Alexander Novak presented awards to the winners of the Energy Breakthrough hackathon staged by Global Energy Association, the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas.

    The final stage of the hackathon took place on 9^th-10^th at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Two teams were declared the winners.

     The first, Iter, proposed an automated methodology of installing electric charging stations in Moscow. With detailed data of city infrastructure, it could become the basis for setting up a network of charging stations in the city.

    The second, Hack Misis, developed an app for operating a complex gas distribution system – essentially the duplicate of a physical object, the app can be used to minimise losses in the event of an accident on a pipeline as well as for balancing gas flows to different groups of consumers.

    In proceeding with the creation of its automated methodology, team Iter used as an example for analysis Moscow’s Lefortovo district. As factors influencing the number of charging stations and their location, the team chose reserve capacity at traction substations, the type of district (central, residential, business) as well as the intensity of traffic (taking account of the number of vehicles and population density) and existing infrastructure (thoroughfares, shopping centres, parking areas, metro stations). 

    Using open-source information about the district’s infrastructure, the team developed an algorithm which also takes account of an assessment of the number of electric vehicles (118,000), electric buses (3,000) and charging stations (11,800) in Moscow by 2030. When completed, the algorithm comes up with a map of the distribution of charging stations with varying capacities —  high (60 %), medium (20 %) and small (20 %).

    The second winning team, Hack Misis, proposed a technical solution to the problem: how to regulate the work of valves in the gas distribution system in order to provide uninterrupted service to clients. To complete the task, the team used machine learning technology. That provided highly accurate and rapid computations. The app designed by the team automatically selects the percentage of valves to be opened in order that the gas network operates in full observance of the required conditions. If necessary, the operator of the gas distribution system can switch the app over to manual operation. That allows for independent oversight of the opening of valves and also to receive data from gauges on gas consumption and pressure in real time.

    Also winning a prize in the hackathon’s first track – developing the principles of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Moscow – was team Promising  (2^nd place) and Gubkin Graduates (3^rd place). For the second track – development of an app for operating a complex gas distribution system – the remaining spots in the top three were taken by Skolkek (2^nd place) and Matvey Inc. (3^rd place).