AES’ Energy Innovation Challenge
Are you up for the challenge?
About AES’ Energy Innovation Challenge
The Energy Innovation Challenge is a competition that brings together teams of graduate students from diverse backgrounds to create and present solutions to relevant problems facing the energy industry. We want to challenge aspiring energy professionals to explore new and potentially untapped solutions.
The Challenge is a prize-based competition that provides students with an exciting opportunity to gain the real-world experience, skills and insights required to help accelerate the responsible energy transition upon graduation — all while networking with leaders from a global Fortune 500 company dedicated to leading the transformation to reliable energy future.
Why did we launch the Challenge?
We believe that graduate students have the knowledge, ingenuity, and capability to solve some of the energy industry's most complex problems, and that fresh, innovative perspectives power change. By connecting students to the workforce, we strive to bridge the gap between knowledge and industry experience, allowing them to visualize what a career in energy could look like.
Congratulations to our most recent winners
AES’ most recent 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. The AES judges were impressed with many innovative and novel solutions, but the presentations and in-depth solutions from two teams stood out.
First : CSU Powerhouse, Colorado State University
Ashley Ryland, Bianca Jeremiah and Hannah Huber’s winning project was an AI-powered platform that revolutionizes sustainability reporting for energy companies by automating and enhancing life cycle and techno-economic analyses, delivering real-time, transparent, and collaborative insights that empower organizations of all sizes to optimize operations, meet regulatory standards, and accelerate the clean energy transition while driving measurable benefits for people, planet, and accountability.
Second: Amped Up, Georgetown University
The project from Brianna Belisle, Mahir Pasha, Sergio de Moura, Sheetal Madnani and Sriram Gurunath Venkatesh leveraged AI-driven predictive analytics and geospatial intelligence to streamline clean energy development by integrating community sentiment and zoning regulations, empowering developers, policymakers, and residents to accelerate renewable energy deployment and foster a more sustainable, decarbonized energy grid.
Challenge details
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Why participate?
Tackle the toughest problems on the grid with the Energy Innovation Challenge.
Powering the future of energy
We are in an unprecedented time, facing monumental challenges to meet the rapidly rising energy demand. 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.
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. If selected to advance to the second round, teams will be paired with AES mentors to refine their solutions and build connections. 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.
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.
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
Challenge FAQs
What is the purpose of the Challenge?
We recognize entering the energy industry can sometimes be challenging given the lack of collegiate experiential opportunities. This competition will provide students that are interested in the energy sector with a realistic problem-solving opportunity and exposure to the AES brand and people. This challenge is different from other collegiate competitions because we are looking for solutions that consider a variety of implications — including technological, environmental, financial, social, and beyond. That is why it's critical that teams represent a variety of education backgrounds in either their previous undergraduate areas of study or their current graduate programs.
Why do we need to apply?
To maximize participation and potential benefits for participating teams, there is a maximum number of teams that will be able to participate. If necessary, teams will be filtered by their responses to the posed application questions.
Why is there an interdisciplinary requirement for teams?
At AES and across the energy industry, no challenge is solved by a single viewpoint. Every problem requires a holistic approach and people who can come together with their diverse viewpoints and areas of expertise to deliver the greatest impact solutions. The competition mimics this approach to provide students with a realistic industry experience in which our judges will evaluate the teams on their ability to incorporate interdisciplinary areas of focus into their proposed solutions.
Can undergraduates participate?
Unfortunately, undergraduates cannot participate this year. In the future, we will have an undergraduate opportunity.
Does the topic change every year?
Yes, there is a new competition topic every year. The topic is changed to continue to stay relevant with current events and key industry topics and trends.
What happens after our team completes the application?
Your application will be reviewed along with all other submitted applications. If selected to compete, your team will be contacted with more information prior to the start of the first round.
Meet AES
Accelerating the future of energy, together.
The AES Corporation is a Fortune 500 energy company. With an outcome-focused approach, we partner with communities, utilities, and businesses to create energy solutions and integrate technologies that meet their rapidly growing need for reliable and clean power.
AES is the largest US-based global power company and a major source of energy innovation, changing the way the world creates, distributes, and stores electricity. With a diverse generation fleet, we are a top seller of clean energy to corporations and one of the largest energy providers to technology companies, powering the AI revolution and industries of the future.
Are you up for the challenge?
You can impact the future of energy
Fill out the early interest form to see how you or your students can join.
