ARPA-E GOPHURRS Program Under Way
GOPHURRS Program’s Goal Is Finding the Next Great Undergrounding Technologies
To help address the challenge of getting more electrical utilities underground through the development of new technologies is the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS) program administered through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
Across North America, communities are being hit with extreme weather events that test the boundaries of what the current power grid can handle.
Following each weather event come the cries that the electric lines should be taken underground to safeguard them and ensure the continued delivery of power to homes and buildings. And the cries are getting louder as we move toward a more electrified world.
Though there are utilities that have robust undergrounding and grid hardening programs in place, many still don’t pursue undergrounding because of costs, which the utilities will say are high compared to repairing lines when they are damaged. Any increased costs of installation will be passed on to the rate payers.
What Is ARPA-E?
ARPA-E – which launched on Earth Day 15 years ago and modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment.
Leading the GOPHURRS program is Philseok Kim, PhD, an ARPA-E Program Director who has helped bring this latest idea to the program phase.
“ARPA-E is sort of a moonshot technology idea incubator under the DOE. We are funding future technologies that are extremely difficult to realize. Therefore, the risk is relatively high,” says Kim. “But these moonshot ideas, if we can realize them, could bring a huge impact [to the sector]. That’s the type of energy technologies we want to advance, and we [ARPA-E] are created to fund these specific efforts in the energy sector.”
Simply put, ARPA-E program de-risks technologies to help further innovation in the United States, increase our energy independence and resilience and benefit the taxpayers.
What Is GOPHURRS?
“The GOPHURRS program’s mission is improving our energy infrastructure’s reliability, resilience and security by undergrounding power lines,” Kim says.
Kim notes that this ARPA-E program was created to address the question of, “Why are we not burying the power lines?” He investigated it further and discovered that people know that burying the lines is better for power grid reliability and resiliency but trenching in the lines – the leading method for undergrounding – was too cost prohibitive and disruptive.
“So, the golden key to make that happen is [finding out] how do we dramatically cut the cost of burying the powerlines to prevent these disasters,” Kim says. “The main idea behind the GOPHURRS program is [answering the question], ‘Can we underground powerlines without digging the ground?’ And trenchless technologies are the main focus.”
“Modernizing our nation’s power grid is essential to building a clean energy future that lowers energy costs for working Americans and strengthens our national security,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a press release announcing the GOPHURRS funding. “With today’s announcement, DOE is supporting teams across the country as they develop innovative approaches to burying power infrastructure underground — increasing our resilience and bringing our aging grid into the 21st century.”
GOPHURRS Funding
Announced in January was an allotment of $34 million for 12 project teams across 11 states. The awardees are looking into one of three components of the undergrounding process.
The first is burying powerlines without open trenching. While this can be done with horizontal directional drilling (HDD), Kim envisions more autonomous installation methods that can navigate already tight utility corridors.
This brings Kim to the next category of research and funding. Enhancing underground mapping capabilities to precisely locate and map existing infrastructure and other underground obstacles in real time, as well as the ability to look ahead and avoid those obstructions.
The third phase is splicing the cables together, an area that is manually completed and open to human error slowing the installation process. Kim says the program asks its researchers to redesign the splicing process.
“The ARPA-E projects typically run for three years, and we anticipate that at the end of the three years, successful teams will have a validated technology at lab scale,” Kim says. “For this kind of technology, that lab scale means small outdoor experiment.”
Kim notes that the $34 million to the project teams is a portion of the funding needed for research and development activities. The awardees are also responsible for securing additional matching funds for the project.
“After successful validation, the team can take multiple paths. They are eligible to apply for ARPA-E’s new SCALEUP funding vehicle to further de-risk technologies to go to market. Or they can secure follow up funding from the private sector so they can do more testing, larger scale outdoor field testing and maybe pilot scale demonstrations,” Kim says. “Eventually we really want to see these technologies being adopted and deployed and when that happens at massive scale that’s when our technologies truly become transformative and that’s ARPA-E’s ultimate goal.”
GOPHURRS Project Descriptions
GE Vernova Advanced Research – Niskayuna, New York – SPEEDWORM: Swift, Portable, and Efficient Electrical undergrounDing using a Waterfree, cOmpact, and Reliable Machine
GE Vernova Advanced Research is developing a robotic worm tunneling construction tool that would dig and install conduit and cables for underground distribution powerlines in a single step. GE’s SPEEDWORM would mimic the natural movement of earthworms and tree roots to install 1,000 ft of cable and conduit in two hours with unmatched flexibility. The tool could deploy from a standard pickup truck and would eliminate the cost, complexity, and surface disruption compared with conventional approaches.
RTX Technology Research Center – East Hartford, Connecticut – UNderground Imaging with QUantum sEnsors (UnIQue)
RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC) is developing a mobile sensing platform using radar approaches based on quantum radio frequency sensing together with artificial intelligence to locate existing utility lines prior to installing underground power distribution lines. RTRC’s quantum radio frequency atom vapor sensors offer unparalleled superior performance to that of traditional ground penetrating radar, and its artificial intelligence-assisted data processing method could boost the accuracy of 3D reconstructions of subsurface infrastructure by at least 95 percent compared with traditional data processing techniques.
Prysmian Cables & Systems USA – Highland Heights, Kentucky – Error-Free Splicing Machine for Underground Power Cables
Prysmian Cables & Systems USA is developing a hands-free power cable splicing machine operating in underground vaults to reduce the share of splicing-caused medium-voltage network failures from 60 to 80 percent to less than 5 percent and dramatically improve the workforce safety by reducing the time the underground cable splicing crews spend in underground vaults. The proposed machine—which fits down a utility hole and is operated from above ground—would implement laser cutting and layer preparation, abrade cable layers, and complete the splice while a vision system augmented with machine learning would aid operators in maintaining quality control.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Richland, Washington – Subsurface Intelligence for Undergrounding Operations: Rapid AI-Based Geophysical Imaging and Advanced Visualization
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is developing an artificial intelligence system for processing geophysical survey data into digital twin and augmented reality in order to identify existing utilities and other subsurface obstacles before installing underground power distribution lines. The system would autonomously process data from multiple types of geophysical sensors to detect and classify anomalies underground and create a digital representation of the subsurface for geographic information systems. Analysis, visualization, and reporting typically takes weeks or months after data acquisition, but the proposed system could produce results within minutes, providing near real-time subsurface mapping and utility identification which will lead to cost savings and speed up the task of burying power lines.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Blacksburg, Virginia – Multi-Physics, Intelligent Sensing System (MISS) For Real-Time, Look-Ahead While Drilling
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) will develop a look-ahead sensing system based on integrated electromagnetic and seismic sensors to guide and assist drilling to lower the cost and safety concerns of undergrounding power lines. The system’s sensors, in the form of radar and accelerometers, would be mounted on and behind the drill head, with complimentary distributed acoustic sensing at the surface to detect obstructions within at least 10 feet of drilling operations. Artificial intelligence capabilities would interpret the geophysical data from the sensors and provide a real-time prediction of obstacles to operators within seconds.
Sandia National Laboratories – Albuquerque, New Mexico – Advancing Horizontal Directional Drilling for Rapid Undergrounding of Electrical Utilities
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a real-time, drill-mounted, cross-bore detector using ground penetrating radar to reduce the risk of damaging existing utilities while installing new underground power lines. Unlike other drill-mounted ground penetrating radar sensors that measure broad frequency bands and produce large quantities of data that make real-time communication with surface systems difficult, the proposed sensor uses a narrow band frequency domain. The result is a system capable of detecting cross-bore events with high resolution within one foot, using directional drill rod integrated sensors and advanced communication channels to avoid collisions.
Melni Technologies – Twin Falls, Idaho – Enhancing Reliability and Resilience of Underground Distribution Systems Using Innovative Splicing
Melni Technologies is redesigning and developing novel medium-voltage power cable splice kits that require fewer steps and streamline connections to greatly reduce human errors and boost the reliability of underground electrical power distribution systems. The splice kits feature Melni’s proprietary Dual Helix Spiral Technology, which expands and contracts as electrical currents and temperatures vary. The kit also contains an integrated housing system with medium- voltage insulation and components that require only basic hand tools for installation. Melni’s proposed kits could be installed in 10 to 15 minutes, which is three to four times faster than conventional kits, and would reduce failures and mistakes up to 90 percent by eliminating installation steps and potential human errors.
Arizona State University – Tempe, Arizona – High Speed Installation of Buried Medium Voltage Electrical Distribution Lines Using a Single Pass System
Arizona State University is developing a water-jet underground construction tool that would deploy medium-voltage electrical cables and conduits simultaneously underground with a lower risk to existing utilities by eliminating the need for a hard drill bit. The proposed tool creates a borehole by passing high-pressure water through a steering drill head and then vacuuming the slurry back out of the borehole to clear a path for excavation. At the same time, the system installs conduit to reduce cost and schedule impacts from reaming and duct pulling tasks.
Case Western Reserve University – Cleveland, Ohio – Peristaltic Conduit with Stiff Structure and Compliant Skin
Case Western Reserve University is developing a worm-inspired construction tool that could cheaply and quickly install underground distribution powerlines in busy urban and suburban environments. The proposed robotic tool consists of a sleeve of expanding and contracting materials that digs underground like an earthworm while laying conduit as it goes. The goal for the peristaltic conduit is to be able to avoid existing infrastructure obstacles by turning more nimbly (with potential turning radius of about 5 ft compared with conventional methods with turning radiuses larger than 1,000 ft). If successful tunneling would be possible in environments which are currently too risky for trenchless methods.
Cornell University – Ithaca, New York – Mini-Mole: Combustion Powered Tip Fracturing and Undulatory Locomotion Robot
Cornell University is developing a worm-inspired digging tool with a combustion-powered soil fracturing head to minimize environmental disruption, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs of undergrounding power cables. The Mini-Mole leverages soft robotics to allow for improved steering and movement compared with conventional approaches and would be capable of tunneling, laying conduit, and installing cables without damaging the surface. The Mini-Mole would be capable of digging as fast as 12 ft per hour, have a reach up to 1,000 ft, and lower costs of cable and conduit installation by over 50 percent.
Oceanit – Honolulu, Hawaii – Artificial Intelligence and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Real-Time Advanced Look-Ahead Subsurface Sensor (AURALSS)
Oceanit is developing a look-ahead subsurface sensor system that would take advantage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and electromagnetic (EM) resistivity techniques to avoid damaging existing utilities when undergrounding powerlines. The proposed system pairs an EM sensor on an underground drill string and an antenna mounted to a UAV flying overhead to expand the distance and sensitivity of object identification underground. The system would use machine learning interpretation and high-resolution imaging capabilities to provide real-time guidance for the drill path.
Phoenix Boring Inc. – San Francisco, California – PyroHDD
Phoenix Boring Inc. is developing a small-diameter multi-modal drilling head for ultrafast trenchless deployments in heterogeneous and changing ground conditions, especially where challenging hard rock exists. Building on 12- to 72-in. diameter multi-mode Phoenix Boring machines in the market, PyroHDD aims to simplify and accelerate deployments by seamlessly switching to the most efficient boring method for the ground conditions encountered. PyroHDD will use a combustion-based thermal spallation drilling (TSD) to efficiently flame-weaken and remove hard materials. Combining conventional HDD head with TSD technology in a hybrid thermal-mechanical head will allow switching modes without tool removal from the borehole, a smaller surface footprint, and lower power/thrust requirements than conventional HDD methods. PyroHDD is intended to tackle both typical and conventionally impossible small diameter undergrounding jobs with the same dynamism, efficiency, and decreased downtime.
Mike Kezdi is managing editor of Trenchless Technology.
