Watch our Information Session to learn more!

More questions? Reach out and we will share more information and try to connect you with fellow students. Contact us at innovationchallenge@aes.com

Congratulations to our 2023 winners

AES’ 2023 Energy Innovation Challenge brought together 46 teams with over 175 graduate students from across the country. Students were challenged with redesigning energy infrastructure to catalyze local support through community benefits. Our AES judges were impressed with many innovative and novel solutions, but two winning teams stood out in their presentations and in-depth solutions.​

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First place ​Green Grad Buffs – Colorado University Boulder​

​Thomas Hill, Tatiana Huet de Bacellar, Patrick Fegan, Emily Cummins and Andrew Bayliss designed a solution to revitalize existing steam turbine infrastructure through thermal energy storage and lithium-ion battery storage that also houses a Colorado Energy Museum, Energy Workforce Training Facility as well as a community hub.

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Second place​ Ene-archy – Duke University​

Petya Miteva, Amelia Atencio, Sanchit Patra and Louis Linden proposed the Gullah / Geechee Offshore Wind Corridor, a multi-use offshore wind site installed with a protected oyster reef habitat designed to address energy security, mitigate environmental concerns, and stimulate the local coastal economy.​

Competition framework
  • Participants are high-performing, graduate students who demonstrate diversity of thought, a passion for renewable energy, and personify our company values.
  • Student teams will create a presentation detailing a solution in response to the prompt that will be related to a clean energy problem that the industry is facing.
  • Participating teams will receive a briefing packet when the prompt is released in September and the application period closes.
  • Six-week competition with three rounds:
    • In the first round, students will submit a five-minute video presentation.
    • If selected, teams will advance to the second round where they will deliver a 20-minute presentation to a panel of AES judges.
    • The five highest-scoring teams will advance to the final round and deliver a 25-minute presentation to a panel of AES senior leaders.
  • Winning teams will receive monetary prizes as well as individual interview conversations for full time and internship opportunities.
  • All competition participants will receive access to networking opportunities at AES and industry association memberships.
Team requirements
  • All participants must be enrolled in a graduate degree or equivalent program and attend the same academic institution.
  • 3-5 graduate students per team.
  • Teams must have representation from at least two different academic disciplines. This can be representing different graduate programs or different undergraduate backgrounds if entire team is in the same graduate program.
  • Students must form their own teams; however, team formation support will be provided at our information sessions.

Why participate?

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Accelerate the responsible energy transition

We are in an unprecedented time, facing monumental challenges in order to transition our society into a clean energy future. The Energy Innovation Challenge allows you to join AES in accelerating the future of energy by gaining invaluable insight into what these problems look like and what it takes to solve them.

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Networking

Participating students will be provided several valuable networking opportunities. All participants will be able to select a discipline and speak one-on-one in a coffee chat with an AES person of that business specialty. Finalists will receive the unique opportunity to network with AES senior leaders as a component of the final round of presentations. The first and second place winning teams will receive individual interview conversations for full time and internship opportunities depending on the students’ needs.

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Gain invaluable industry experience

Your team will work on a potential solution to a problem facing the energy industry today. Through this exercise, you will conduct research and use different skills you have developed throughout your education to gain real-world energy experience. This competition will show you how to succeed in the industry and make you more attractive to employers.

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Incentivized opportunity

First Place prizes: Individual interviews + $10,000 to the team + $1,000 to a charity in the team’s name


Second Place prizes: Individual interviews + $5,000 to the team + $1,000 to a charity in the team’s name


Participant prizes: All participants will receive student energy industry association memberships and opportunities to network with AES professionals

Congratulations to our 2022 winners

The 2022 Energy Innovation Challenge brought together 30 teams with 149 talented graduate students to develop and propose solutions on how the energy industry can decarbonize underserved communities. Our judges from AES were impressed with the many innovative and novel solutions, but two winning teams stood out in their presentations and in-depth solutions.

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First place

UD Flyers – University of Dayton

Scott Eardley, Sean Kapp and Megan McNelly presented an indoor farming system powered by onsite solar and battery storage to provide locally grown produce and energy resiliency to the neighborhood.

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Runner up

AC/DC – Johns Hopkins

Alayna Nieman, Grant Taylor Miller, Jack Prill, Sebastian Gettelman and Travis Jaramillo proposed deploying additional renewable energy to produce green hydrogen for steel furnaces as well as creating a circular economy within the steel market to reduce the energy required for steel production.

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Competition FAQs

Other questions?

If you have any additional questions, please contact us at innovationchallenge@aes.com.

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