The 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competitors has formally kicked off, with this 12 months’s competitors that includes each a Technical Observe and Coverage Observe.
Thirty-three groups from 25 U.S. collegiate establishments are competing within the U.S. Division of Vitality (DOE) Fall 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competitors, designing real-world geothermal options for an opportunity at $32,000 in prize funding.
This 12 months’s problem, now a part of the American-Made assortment of prizes and competitions, options two tracks:
- Twenty-one groups are registered for the Technical Observe, wherein groups will design a geothermal heating and cooling system from the bottom up for a proposed group of their selecting.
- Twelve groups are registered within the new Coverage Observe, the place groups will conduct an evaluation of the regulatory surroundings and financial feasibility for a proposed geothermal system.
- First-place groups in every monitor will obtain $10,000, with second-place groups incomes $6,000.
The taking part establishments are as follows:
Technical Observe
- Goals Neighborhood School
- California State College, Bakersfield
- Colorado Faculty of Mines*
- Massachusetts Institute of Expertise
- Missouri College of Science and Expertise
- Norwich College*
- Smith School
- Texas A&M College*
- The Pennsylvania State College
- The College of Oklahoma*
- The College of Tulsa
- College of Wisconsin–Madison
- West Virginia College
*Collegiate establishment with a number of groups competing
Coverage Observe
- Columbia College and Princeton College
- Duke College
- Grand Valley State College and College of Michigan
- SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and Russell Sage School
- The College of Oklahoma
- The College of Tulsa*
- College of California, Berkeley
- College of California, Davis
- College of California San Diego
- College of Colorado Boulder
*Collegiate establishment with a number of groups competing
“We’re thrilled to see so many groups and colleges on this 12 months’s competitors and may’t wait to see what the groups give you in each tracks to assist handle the local weather disaster and empower communities to make use of geothermal,” stated Elisabet Metcalfe, communications and stakeholder engagement lead on the DOE Geothermal Applied sciences Workplace.
Nineteen groups additionally took benefit of the choice to be paired with a volunteer mentor, gaining precious connections to be taught extra in regards to the geothermal trade.
Groups will submit last deliverables, together with stakeholder engagement plans for each tracks, in December, and winners are anticipated to be introduced in January 2024. DOE can even present further funding to the profitable groups to host stakeholder occasions within the communities wherein their tasks came about.
The Geothermal Applied sciences Workplace has funded the GCC for greater than 10 years, supporting workforce growth and giving college students an opportunity to achieve resume expertise within the geothermal trade whereas nonetheless in class.
Final 12 months’s Geothermal Collegiate Competitors was gained by the Sooners Geothermal Group from the College of Oklahoma (OU). The profitable undertaking was for a system that enables deserted oil and gasoline wells in Shawnee, Oklahoma to be repurposed to provide geothermal power.
Supply: U.S. Division of Vitality
