AUSTIN, Texas – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transition (OTT) announced the student winners of the EnergyTech University Prize (EnergyTech UP) 2024 during the award’s national pitch event held April 15 at Zpryme’s Energy Thought Summit in Austin, Texas.
The event selected three national winners and 13 bonus award winners who developed innovative business plans to bring to market energy technologies developed by DOE national laboratories or other high-potential energy technologies. This year’s winners were selected from 225 competing teams made up of students from 117 schools across the country. This year, finalist teams who presented at the event had the chance to win one of the eligible awards (meaning a Technology Bonus Award finalist could become a national winner or a regional finalist could take home a Technology Bonus Award).
“Each year, we are impressed with the creativity and thoughtfulness that teams put into their business plans,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and OTT Director Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan. “This year, we heard from teams that developed innovative business plans for solar power, long-duration energy storage, biofuel solutions and more.”
National winners, chosen from finalists named after their regional Explore events, were awarded the following prizes:
1st Place, $50,000 Prize: Team Rise Reforming from the University of Chicago, Entry: Rise Reforming; 2nd Place, $20,000 Prize: Team ProPika from the University of Arkansas, Entry: Biomass to Jet Fuel; 3rd Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Ion Clean PV from Hawaii Pacific University, Entry: IonCleanPV: Waterless Electrostatic PV Cleaning
Additionally, 13 teams won bonus prizes and $22,000 each in the following categories:
Technology Transition Office
Undergraduate-only winner: GarboCarbo team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Harvard University, and University of California, Berkeley Entry: GarboCarbo: Cleaning Paper and Construction Sectors National Laboratory IP License: EcoGrains team from University of Notre Dame Entry: EcoGrains: “Sustainable Bioenergy Solutions”
Architectural Technology Office
Georgia Tech team HeatVault: Heat Recovery as a Service Entry: HeatVault: Heat Recovery as a Service
Geothermal Technology Office
Entry by Team Geo@MIT from Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Advanced GDHC/thermal storage system at university
Hydrogen Fuel Technology Department
Entry from University of Houston team ECHO Solutions: Electrochemical Carbon and Hydrogen from the Ocean
Electricity Bureau
Entry by the FlowCellutions team from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University: Flow Battery Diagnostics for Energy Reliability Entry by the OptiGen team from Duke University: OptiGen – Cutting-edge Generation Dispatch Entry by the ClimateWatt team from Rice University: MASTERRI: Making the Electricity Grid Satisfied and Resilient
Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Agency
Entry from Stanford University team EarthFlow AI: EarthFlow AI: Accelerating Subsurface Clean Energy
Department of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains
Texas A&M University Team COMPScan Entry: COMPScan: Save Money on Airplanes
Atomic Energy Agency
Snow College Team Molten Salt Consulting Entry: Molten Salt Consulting Inc.
Solar Energy Technology Office:
Cornell University team Agrivoltaic Design Studio Entry: Agrivoltaic Design Studio
Hydroelectric Power Technology Office
University of Michigan Team KelpNext Entry: KelpNext
The next edition of the inter-university competition was also announced at the EnergyTech UP national pitch event. Next year’s competition, EnergyTech UP 2025, will be held soon. To get the latest information on how to participate, please visit the EnergyTech UP page on HeroX, the official competition platform.
About the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transition
The Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transition (OTT) is one of the largest supporters of technology commercialization in the federal government. Founded in 2015, OTT strengthens the technology industry’s market skills and accelerates the research, development, demonstration and private sector adoption of clean energy technologies to help achieve the nation’s climate goals. To learn more, visit energy.gov/technologytransitions. And to receive the latest opportunities and wins by email, sign up or follow us. twitter And LinkedIn.