EERE: Collegiate Wind Competitors, a Hackathon, and a Solar Workforce Initiative

Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

EERE Network News

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

News and Events Energy Department Announces 2016 Collegiate Wind Competition Participants Energy Department Launches Virtual Hackathon to Build the Next Big Solar Software Solutions Webinars Planned on Energy Department's Budget for Efficiency, Renewable Energy Report: Wind Generates 10% of Texas Electricity in 2014 SunEdison and GRID Alternatives Announce $5 Million Workforce Initiative EERE Blog How the Weatherization Assistance Program Changed Jasmine’s Life

News and Events Energy Department Announces 2016 Collegiate Wind Competition Participants The Energy Department on February 18 announced the 12 collegiate teams selected to participate in the Department's second Collegiate Wind Competition. The competition challenges teams of undergraduate students to design and build a model wind turbine based on market research and siting considerations, develop a business plan to market their products, and test their turbines against a set of rigorous performance criteria. Bringing together the next generation of wind energy pioneers with industry leaders, the 2016 Collegiate Wind Competition will take place from May 23–26, 2016, at the annual American Wind Energy Association WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana. The twelve colleges and universities selected are: Boise State University (Idaho); The California Maritime Academy; California State University, Chico; Kansas State University; Northern Arizona University; The Pennsylvania State University; Universidad del Turabo (Puerto Rico); University of Alaska Fairbanks; University of Maryland; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Massachusetts Lowell; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. See the Energy Department news release.    Energy Department Launches Virtual Hackathon to Build the Next Big Solar Software Solutions The Energy Department's SunShot Initiative on February 17 launched the largest-of-its-kind, 60-day online hackathon to quickly build prototype solutions and products that address barriers to greater solar energy deployment and drive down the costs of solar energy. Approximately 700,000 coders, developers, and data scientists are expected to participate in this series of contests to build promising software prototypes to help more American families and businesses go solar. The SunShot Catalyst Prize program was launched in 2014 to create connections and opportunities for collaboration among solar experts, business innovators, software developers, and entrepreneurs and introduce them to a vast array of software tools, capabilities, data sets, and application program interfaces (APIs) developed by the Energy Department and its national laboratories. Collectively, these innovators are now working via an online crowdsourcing platform to address near-term challenges to greater solar deployment and reduce soft costs that can quickly be tackled with data, apps, and automation. In January, SunShot selected 17 promising teams with creative business plans for products and solutions that solve solar challenges in the "business innovation" phase of Catalyst. Now, during the "prototyping" contest, the selected teams are awarded up to $25,000 worth of tools to help them run coding competitions for 60 days on Appirio's TopCoder crowdsourcing development platform. TopCoder provides Catalyst teams with access to the expertise of hundreds of thousands of designers, developers, and technical talent who can help them to build their minimum viable products. Based on results of an evaluation in May, the Department will award up to $500,000 in additional funds to advance early stage solutions toward commercialization. See the Energy Department news release and the TopCoder website.    Webinars Planned on Energy Department's Budget for Efficiency, Renewable Energy The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will present a series of live webinars from March 3 to March 5 on its Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget request. The webinars will feature EERE's deputy assistant secretaries and technology office directors providing in-depth presentations of the budget proposal by sector. The scheduled webinars are: Sustainable Transportation, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Reuben Sarkar, on March 3, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) Energy Efficiency, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Kathleen Hogan, on March 4, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST Renewable Power, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Doug Hollett, March 5, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST. See the Energy Department news release for registration information.    Report: Wind Generates 10% of Texas Electricity in 2014 In 2014, more than 10% of the electricity used in the grid covering most of Texas came from wind generation, according to the grid's operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Wind's share of the ERCOT generation mix grew from 6.2% in 2009 to 10.6% in 2014 as total electricity generation increased over the same period by 11.3%. The growth in wind generation is a result of new wind plants coming online and grid expansions that have allowed more wind power to flow through the system to consumers. Wind generation in ERCOT nearly doubled from 18.8 million megawatt hours (MWh) in 2009 to 36.1 million MWh in 2014. Wind capacity has also grown substantially over the past six years, but wind generation grew at a faster pace, partly because transmission constraints were removed that previously prevented wind generators from operating at their maximum capability. As these transmission constraints were removed, more generation from wind plants (largely concentrated in the northwestern part of the state) could reach the state's population centers. Wind's contribution to ERCOT generation is not evenly distributed throughout the year. In Texas, peak wind season occurs during the spring, significantly dropping off during the summer. Based on data for the past six years, the four months from March through June account for on average about 40% of annual wind generation in ERCOT. See the U.S. Energy Information Administration story.    SunEdison and GRID Alternatives Announce $5 Million Workforce Initiative SunEdison, Inc. and the SunEdison Foundation on February 20 announced a $5 million contribution to their philanthropic partnership with GRID Alternatives, launching a two-year initiative to connect the industry's growing demand for skilled solar industry workers with communities that need jobs. The $5 million contribution is both financial and in the form of solar panels. GRID Alternatives has ten regional offices and affiliates serving California, Colorado, the New York tri-state region, the mid-Atlantic region, and tribal communities nationwide. Together, the organizations are launching a two-year initiative called RISE to build a more inclusive solar workforce. The RISE initiative will provide hands-on training and real-world solar installation experience to more than 4,000 people in underserved communities across the country. In addition, the initiative will connect job trainees with solar companies looking for skilled workers. As part of the initiative, GRID Alternatives will provide 40 individuals with one-year paid fellowships in GRID Alternatives' offices around the country through its SolarCorps program, and SunEdison employees will donate more than 2,000 hours of their time installing solar energy systems for low-income families and supporting job-readiness for trainees. See the SunEdison news release.

EERE Blog

How the Weatherization Assistance Program Changed Jasmine’s Life The thermometer topped out at 120 degrees in the 1700 square-foot attic, where Jasmine Ramero and her fellow Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) members were blowing insulation as part of the Energy Department’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). After two hours, perseverance paid off for her and her other female colleague, as the two made their way to the next work site to start all over again. Two years ago, Jasmine did not know anything about weatherization, she was afraid of heights, and at the time facing personal and family hardships. She was born and raised on Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, and attended 11 different schools during K-12, making it difficult to form lasting friendships with her peers. Shortly after starting college in an engineering program, unfortunate circumstances led her to leave school and eventually live in her car. “I was on a downhill spiral, which I was trying to figure out how to climb,” she said. Jasmine’s life changed almost instantly when she was given a flier for RMYC’s Energy Efficiency Program. It had a photo of a person in a white suit performing weatherization work in a home. The mission statement caught her eye: “A stepping-stone to new opportunities.” This was exactly what she had been looking for and needed. For the complete story, see the EERE Blog.