The winners of this year’s US Department of Energy’s Hydropower Collegiate Competition (HCC) were recently announced. Northern Arizona University was the overall winner, followed by Johns Hopkins University and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo was in third place.
Now in its second year, the competition asks multidisciplinary student teams to tackle common challenges in hydropower, giving them real-world exposure to the industry and a head start in a clean energy career. With more than a quarter of the US’ hydropower workers set to reach retirement age in the coming years, the industry recognises it needs a new generation to fill these jobs. The HCC’s aim is to train, equip, and inspire this next generation of the hydropower workforce.
“Hydropower has an important role in clean energy, and these winning teams bring the ingenuity, enthusiasm and vision we need for discovering how to tap its full potential,” said Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “And since the competition is designed to spark interest in these careers, it’s very exciting to imagine the possibilities with this calibre of talent leading our future clean energy workforce.”
This year’s competition asked teams to develop solutions to add power-generating infrastructure to existing non-powered dams. With less than 3% of the US’ more than 90,000 dams producing electricity, there is a significant opportunity for expansion with new hydropower.
Marine energy competition
This year’s winner of the Marine Energy Collegiate Competition was the University of New Hampshire, repeating its win from the 2023 competition. Purdue University took second place, and Oakland University and Oregon State University tied in third.
Now in its fifth year, the annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC) challenges multidisciplinary collegiate teams to develop solutions that can help power sectors in the blue economy, like aquaculture or ocean observation. Students gain hands-on experience by identifying markets for marine energy technologies and designing their own device.
“Marine energy resources are abundant, predictable and have immense potential to provide clean energy to our grid and the offshore economy,” said Marootian. “The students participating in this competition are paving the way for this burgeoning new industry, and we look forward to their future achievements.”
With the total available marine energy resources in the US equating to almost to 60% of total power generation, even if only a small portion of this technical resource potential is captured, marine energy technologies would make significant contributions to the country’s energy needs.
A strong workforce will be needed to ensure the country can leverage its marine energy potential, and the MECC is playing an instrumental role in introducing students to the different career paths – such as engineers, environmental scientists, business development experts, project managers, and communications and engagement specialists – needed to support the industry.
As part of this year’s competition, teams completed four required challenges, which focused on market analysis, technical design, prototype testing, and community engagement. The 17 competing teams presented the results of their work at the Pacific Ocean Energy Trust’s Ocean Renewable Energy Conference in Portland, Oregon, which was held from May 20–23, 2024. After reviewing the presentations, reports, and posters, the competition’s expert judges selected the overall winners. They also selected the following individual category winners:
- Best Poster: Purdue University
- Business Plan Challenge Winner: University of New Hampshire
- Technical Design Challenge Winner: University of New Hampshire
- Build and Test Challenge Winner: Oregon State University
- Community Connections Challenge Winner: Purdue University
- Rookie of the Year Award: Rutgers University.
Looking ahead
Looking ahead to the 2025 competitions, 36 teams have been selected to participate in both the HCC and MECC, the largest cohort to date.
“Our Hydropower and Marine Energy Collegiate Competitions call on the next generation to help these resources fulfil their potential in the clean energy transition,” said Matthew Grosso, Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) acting director. “We look forward to seeing the creative and innovative water power concepts these students develop throughout the year.”
During the 2025 HCC, teams will develop solutions to convert non-powered dams to hydroelectric dams that can produce between 100kilowatts and 10 megawatts of power or assess the feasibility of a potential closed-loop pumped storage hydropower site that can provide between 8 and 24 hours of energy storage. Each team will be assigned a hydropower industry mentor. Teams will be required to complete three challenges and may choose to participate in two optional challenges.
In the 2025 MECC, teams have been asked to integrate marine energy with blue economy applications such as ocean exploration, aquaculture, and desalination.
After identifying a promising blue economy market, teams will design a marine energy-powered device to serve that market. Each team will be assigned a marine energy mentor and compete in four challenges.
Who Can Participate in HCC and MECC?
Both US and non-US institutions are welcome to apply and participate, although non-US institutions are not eligible to receive cash prize funding. Teams may consist of a combination of post-secondary, undergraduate, and graduate students, but must be at least 50% postsecondary and/or undergraduates.
