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American-Made Challenges

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2024 Geothermal Collegiate Competition

College students: Compete to solve real-world geothermal technical and policy challenges for a chance at thousands in DOE prize funding!

This challenge is closed

Education Energy, Environment & Resources Engineering
stage:
Feedback Provided on Progress Submission
prize:
$10,000

This challenge is closed

Education Energy, Environment & Resources Engineering
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Summary
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Updates13
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Summary
Overview Guidelines

Overview

Welcome to the 2024 Geothermal Collegiate Competition (GCC)! Stay up to date on competition announcements and details by selecting the "Follow" button at the top of the page. 

  • Through the Geothermal Collegiate Competition, the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) encourages students to develop innovative solutions for geothermal energy application challenges and build career skills for the clean energy workforce. 
  • 2024 GCC prizes and awards include:
    • 1st place (for each track): $10,000
    • 2nd place (for each track): $6,000
    • 3rd place (for each track): $2,000
    • Bonus for outstanding submission from a team of all Tribal college and/or community college students: $2,000
    • Honorable mention for best informative graphic: recognition on social media and announcements
    • Honorable mention for best video: recognition on social media and announcements

A team may receive the bonus prize or an honorable mention either separately from or in addition to other awards. To get details on submission material content and evaluation criteria, read the rules.

Registration closed on October 7, 2024. 

Teams must have at least three undergraduate and/or graduate members (can be from multiple schools), and students of any discipline can participate. Final competition deliverables are due on December 20, 2024.

There are two competition tracks: Technical and Policy.

  • Technical Track teams will perform a resource assessment and design a geothermal heating and cooling system for a community of their choosing. The design can also include other renewable energy technologies and/or storage.
  • Policy Track teams will present a high-level idea for a geothermal heating and cooling system in a community or campus, focused on an analysis of the regulatory environment, economic assessment, and workforce development analysis. 

Guidelines

Read the 2024 rules for details.

Specifics to note:

  • This competition is open for undergraduate and/or graduate students pursuing any major or minor. 
  • The Geothermal Collegiate Competition invites participation by teams of at least three students enrolled in accredited U.S.-based collegiate institutions or U.S. citizens enrolled at non-U.S. based collegiate institutions. In this case, “collegiate institution” refers to any school of post-secondary or higher education, including but not limited to community colleges, technical colleges, and traditional four-year and graduate-level universities. See “Who Can Enter” in the rules for more information. 
  • There is no cost to register or participate.
  • Additional details are available on the Geothermal Collegiate Competition webpage.

If you want to receive updates, use the "Follow" feature on this page. For questions, email .

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Timeline
Updates13

Challenge Updates

New Resources Available!

Nov. 13, 2024, 1:12 p.m. PST by NREL Prize Moderator

Check out two new additions to the HeroX resources section!

You can find more resources in the rules, which also include details on which deliverables to submit by the December 20 deadline and how they will be evaluated.

Questions? Email or book a 15-minute session with a competition organizer.

Optional Progress Submissions Due 10/28; Resources Available

Oct. 24, 2024, 7:46 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

The optional progress submission deadline is Monday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. ET for the 2024 Geothermal Collegiate Competition.

For teams that opt to submit, reviewers will return feedback by Nov. 12. For more details, read the rules.

To submit:

  1. Visit HeroX and select "My Entries.”
  2. Select the form that corresponds to your track (Policy or Technical).

As you prepare progress submissions and start thinking about final deliverables, check out the HeroX resources section, which includes links to helpful recordings, tools, case studies, and reports. Find additional resources in the appendices of the rules.

For questions, email or book a 15-minute session with a competition organizer.

GCC Participating Teams Announced!

Oct. 22, 2024, 11:08 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

The 33 teams from 26 schools participating in the 2024 Geothermal Collegiate Competition have been made public! Check out the announcement and interactive map.

If you planned on competing but are not on this list, email geo.competition@nrel.gov immediately. Creating a team and registering are two separate steps, and registration is required to compete.

Welcome to the competition! We can't wait to see your geothermal solutions.

 

Optional Progress Submissions Due Monday, 10/28

Oct. 21, 2024, 5 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

There’s only one week left until the optional progress submission deadline, which is Monday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. ET for the 2024 Geothermal Collegiate Competition.

Progress submissions offer a great opportunity to get feedback, which reviewers will return to teams by Nov. 12. For more details, read the rules.

If your team chooses to submit, only one submission is necessary. To submit:

  1. Visit HeroX and select "My Entries.”
  2. Select the form that corresponds to your track (Policy or Technical).

Questions? Email .

Registration Closes Today, 10/7, at 11:59 p.m. ET!

Oct. 7, 2024, 3 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Moderator

Today is your last chance to register for the 2024 GCC! Complete the registration form on HeroX before today, Oct. 7, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

To ensure your team is officially registered, one team member must:

  1. Visit HeroX and select “Solve This Challenge,” then complete the prompts
  2. Go back to the competition’s HeroX page, select “Begin Entry,” and complete the entire registration form
  3. Watch for a confirmation email to ensure the registration went through.

Looking for teammates? Here are two options. Try selecting the "Teams" tab on HeroX, then:

  • Selecting "Find a Team" to message innovators or teams
  • Selecting teams with limited members and messaging the caption.

The registration form will ask for:

  • The names and emails of at least three team members, which can change later
  • Your team’s project track (technical or policy)
  • A title, which can be your team or school name + "Registration"
  • A description, which can be a sentence or two about your team/project
  • An image, which can be your school’s logo.

For questions, book a 15-minute session with a competition organizer or email . 

Forum
Teams623
Resources
FAQ