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Houston school to host regional DOE competition, calls for applications

Calling all students and faculty interested in energy tech. Photo via Getty Images

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship will host the regional qualifier for a Department of Energy-backed student competition, and the application deadline to participate is coming up.

The DOE's EnergyTech University Prize, or EnergyTech UP, a virtual regional qualifier hosted by the Rice Alliance will take place in February, and applications for students and faculty are now open. A $400,000 collegiate competition, the program challenges student teams to develop a business plan based off of National Laboratory-developed or other emerging energy technology.

"Understanding that energy is often inherently local, competitor teams first present at their designated regional events in February, where regional finalists are identified," reads an email from Rice. "Finalists are provided exclusive mentorship to help students refine their ideas throughout February and March."

If selected as a finalist, the student teams will pitch at Zpryme’s 2024 Energy Thought Summit in Austin, Texas on April 15, 2024.

The application deadline is February 1 for students. To qualify, the student teams must:

  • Be comprised of university or college students
  • Have at least two students on the team (can be undergraduate students, graduate students, or a mix)
  • Create a business plan based on a national lab technology or technology from their university

This year there's a new track for faculty that has a prize of $100,000 on the line. Faculty have until January 5 to apply.

The DOE is hosting an informative webinar on December 5 for those interested in learning more.

The 2023 competition had one winning Houston-based team from Prairie View A&M University and University of Houston. The team, entitled "Revolutionizing Hydrogen with Ceramic Membranes" won the National Lab Technology IP Licensing Bonus Prize.

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A View From HETI

A View From UH

The three plants are all connected to ERCOT, with two of them being in Houston and its surrounding areas. Photo via totalenergies.com

Houston, we have some (more) power. TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with TexGen to acquire $635 million three gas-fired power plants with a total capacity of 1.5 GW in Texas.

The three plants are all connected to ERCOT, with two of them being in Houston and its surrounding areas. The transaction is subject to approval by relevant authorities.

Houston’s plants will include a La Porte site with a 150 MW OCGT, southeast of Houston, and south of Houston’s Colorado Bend I plant with a 530 MW CCGT and a 74 MW open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT). The two added plants may provide flexibility and added insurance to meet the high demands of the summer heat in Texas. The third plant will be Wolf Hollow I plant with a 745 MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant outside of Dallas.

According to TotalEnergies, the locations of the plants will help serve the massive energy demand of the large cities and will help to offset the “intermittency of renewable power production,” as well as “the importance of the plants was highlighted during weather events that impacted power generation from renewable assets in Texas,” or was met with high demands.

The deal includes 1.5 GW additional flexible production capacity acquired by TotalEnergies that will complement its renewable capacity in Texas , which is currently 2 GW gross installed, 2 GW under construction and more than 3 GW under development .

“"We are delighted with the agreement signed with TexGen to acquire 1.5 GW of CCGT in ERCOT, “said Stephane Michel, President Gas Renewables & Power at TotalEnergies in a news release. “After the signing of several corporate PPA over the last couple of years and the recent start-up of the utility-scale Myrtle solar plant, this deal is a major milestone for our Integrated Power strategy in the ERCOT market. These plants will enable us to complement our renewable assets, intermittent by nature, provide our customers with firm power, and take advantage of the volatility of electricity prices.

"This acquisition will contribute positively to our profitability target of 12% ROACE by 2028 for our Integrated Power business segment,” Michel continues.

The Myrtle solar plant opened last month just outside of Houston.

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