Germany - The potential of quantum information technologies is one of the fundamental and

Description

The potential of quantum information technologies is one of the fundamental and pioneering skills of the future. It is possible to revolutionize key industries with the resulting capabilities. Among all technologies, quantum computers represent a strategic, future-relevant and currently almost exponentially growing area of research and development, for which the decisive course is now being set on the national and international stage. To drive their development forward, the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative (QCI) involves partners from industry, business and research. This enables DLR to procure and operate quantum computers, make them usable for relevant applications and further develop its own expertise. The project "Applications, interfaces and data formats for quantum computing algorithms in energy system modeling" (Attraqt "em) is one of the projects from the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative and is led by the DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems (VE). The project aims to explore the quantum advantage in optimization problems that arise in the design and operation of energy systems and can be used to promote the energy transition. A variety of challenges in the context of the energy transition can be addressed through energy system modeling (ESM). Electricity, gas and heat supplies are simulated and optimized in high temporal and spatial resolution for operational and investment decisions. Solving large-scale optimization problems (OP) with classic hardware and solver software is increasingly reaching its limits in ESM. For example, a full-resolution optimization problem for Germany's high-voltage grid (including sector coupling) can no longer be solved using conventional means with a reasonable amount of computing time. For this reason, the development of quantum algorithms for OR in ESM represents a great opportunity. Quantum algorithms for general OR are already being actively researched. In the field of ESM, many models are simplistically formulated as linear problems. However, certain research questions can only be addressed with the much more computationally intensive mixed-integer linear OP (MILP). In Attraqt "em, DLR is working on three types of ESM OP for which MILP are of great importance: 1) the "Unit Commitment" problem (UCP), in which the optimal operation of power plants to cover energy demand is determined taking into account technical restrictions; 2) the "Investment Planning" problem, in which the optimal number of power generators or storage facilities is determined for different scenarios; and 3) the evaluation of the resilience of energy supply systems by testing for component failures ("ResilienceAnalysis"). In this respect, the object of this call for proposals is to find an industrial partner (contractor) whose task in this project is to convert the UCP into a form that can be solved by quantum algorithms. In addition to the known simple translation of the problem into a QUBO problem (Quadratic Unconstrained Bilinear Optimization), the mapping should use a hybrid approach (classical\/quantical) that makes maximum use of the advantages of both worlds. In addition, the algorithm should be tested by providing a scalable set of test cases and a benchmark with other existing algorithms. In practice, this is a software interface whose main components are hybrid algorithms and the corresponding test cases. This should also contain all the code required to run the algorithm on quantum computers and carry out the benchmarking. Further information can be found in the specifications attached to the tender documents.

Opportunity closing date

25 October 2024

Value of contract

to be confirmed