U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
U.S. Department of Energy's Science Synthesis Prize to Address Grid Integration of Renewable Energy U.S. Department of Energy's Science Synthesis Prize to Address Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Teams to Develop Key Grid
Teams to Develop Key Grid Integration Research in New Prize Series

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today (May 8) launched the new Science Synthesis Prize: Identifying Key Barriers to Renewable Integration. This one-phase competition aims to address opportunities and challenges as renewable technologies are integrated onto the electric grid. The Science Synthesis Prize falls under the American-Made Challenges Program.

The Science Synthesis prize incentivizes energy stakeholders to analyze renewable energy integration theory and practice. OE invites students, researchers, scientists, and engineers to form multidisciplinary teams to develop research that addresses potential roadblocks and investment areas for large-scale integration to communicate key takeaways to other industry stakeholders. This $125,000 prize will provide $10,000 for as many as 10 teams with five additional $5,000 cash prizes for exceptional submissions.

The Science Synthesis Prize is part of a new program called the Grid Resource Integration Technologies (GRIT) Prize Series. The GRIT Prize Series is an OE effort in partnership with other offices, to coordinate prizes that focus on technology integration into grid systems, including storage, operational tools, and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).

"Achieving our nation's sustainability and grid reliability goals require innovation in the power sector and rapid technology development, and grid resource integration," said Sandy Jenkins, Grid Controls director in the Office of Electricity. "This prize series will incentivize teams to work together to develop ideas, technologies, and processes that can accelerate grid resource integration while improving system reliability, resilience, affordability, and security. We look forward to the innovative ideas that will emerge from these prizes."

The series will catalyze research and development efforts across multiple energy offices focused on grid modernization through the integration of grid resource technology, including distributed resources, energy storage, and grid operational tools.

The Science Synthesis Prize closes in August 2024. Learn more about this competition, including key dates and submission details, on HeroX, the official prize platform. 

Learn more about the Office of Electricity's work.