College Students + Professors—Gather Your Team for the Fall 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competition!
First and second place teams from the 2022 Geothermal Collegiate Competition pose at their community engagement events.
It’s time to gather your team for the Fall 2023 U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Collegiate Competition (GCC)!
The competition invites teams from collegiate institutions to develop real-world geothermal solutions while competing for thousands of dollars in cash prizes and gaining resume experience in the renewable energy industry.
Registration will open in August 2023 for teams of three or more undergraduate and/or graduate students. Students of any discipline can participate, and multidisciplinary teams are encouraged; see the competition rules to learn more. Final competition deliverables will be due in December 2023.
New to the Fall 2023 GCC, there are now two competition tracks: Technical and Policy.
- Technical Track teams present a technical plan for deploying a geothermal heating and cooling system for a proposed community or campus of their choosing, including a conceptual design of the needed geothermal system based on community needs, benefits, and available resources.
- Policy Track teams present a high-level plan for installing a geothermal heating and cooling system in a community or campus, focused on an analysis of the regulatory environment and an assessment of economic considerations for the project.
First-place teams in each track will earn $10,000 in prize funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and second-place teams in each track will earn $6,000. In addition, teams will be recognized by DOE in various channels, including a public announcement and social media posts.
Professors are encouraged to embed the GCC into their fall semester courses for hands-on policy and technical applications for their students.
“Geothermal is the future. It is the only renewable that is not limited by seasonal factors and can be a baseload source of power. You can develop geothermal energy anywhere, so I recommend anyone to apply to this competition.” — Cesar Vivas, University of Oklahoma student and past GCC participant.
Start forming your team today and follow the challenge on HeroX to be notified when registration opens!
Questions?
- Register to join us for one of the GCC office hours!
- Email geo.competition@nrel.gov
