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The News about the Future Energy Challenge
August
17, 2005 – 2005 Awards Announced We concluded the 2005 final competition. Congratulations to the following winners. Topic A: ·
First Place (for $10,000)
- University of Belgrade, Serbia ·
Outstanding Design
Innovation (for $6,500) - University of South Carolina, USA ·
Outstanding Educational
Impact (for $2,000) - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA ·
Outstanding Presentation
(for $2,000) - University of Belgrade, Serbia ·
Outstanding Technical
Report (for $2,000) - University of Belgrade, Serbia Topic B: · 1st Place - Monash University, Australia (for $10,000) · 2nd Place - Seoul National University of Technology, South Korea (for $8,000) · 3rd Place - University of Illinois at Chicago, USA (for $5,000) · Outstanding Presentation - Universities of Cologne / Aachen, Germany (for $2,000) · Outstanding Technical Report - University of Applied Sciences Cologne / RWTH Aachen University, Germany (for $2,000) · Outstanding Educational Impact - Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (for $1,500) · Innovative Design - University of Central Florida, USA (for $1,500) · Innovative Packaging - University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA (for $1,000) · Outstanding Teamwork - Monash University, Australia, USA (for $1,000) · Honorable Mention - Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh · Final Schedule of Activities (August 15-17, 2005) for Topic B in PDF Format
May
27, 2005 – Topic B Finalists Announced Six reviewers read the reports sent on May 1st and made their recommendations for selection of finalists and semi-finalists. Based on this evaluation, the organizing committee made the following recommendation: FINALISTS: · Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil · Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives of the RWTH (Aachen) and Institute for Automation of the University of Applied Sciences Cologne (FH KÖLN), Germany · Monash University, Australia · Seoul National University of Technology, South Korea · Texas A&M University, College Station, USA · University of Central Florida, USA · University of Illinois at Chicago, USA SEMI-FINALISTS: · Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh · Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil · Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China · School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the State University of Campinas, Brazil · University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Congratulations
to all teams. The finalists are entitled to send a prototype for testing and
competing for the major award. The semi-finalists are also invited for the
testing event to compete for other prizes. All
hardware is to be received by Wednesday, August 10, 2005. Please ship to the
following address: Prof.
Marcelo Godoy Simoes Colorado
School of Mines Engineering
Division 1610
Illinois St. Golden,
Colorado 80401-1887 USA
Preliminary final competition agenda for Topic B is as follows. Monday,
August 15, 2005
8:00
- Welcome Ceremony (NREL Visitor’s Center) 8:45
- Students unpack their hardware
and are allowed to inspect and provide judges with 'keys' to start, a drawing is
performed to establish testing order. Any repair of hardware is at the
discretion of judges. 9:30
- Unit#1 placed on test stand. Any adjustments by NREL necessary to run their
tests are made. Testing begins once judges allow to proceed. 11:30
- Lunch – Teams on their own 12:30
- Testing unit#1 continues 2:00-4:30
- Unit #2 tested. 4:30
– Day 1 testing complete 5:30
- Reception at local restaurant Tuesday,
August 16, 2005
8:00-10:30
Unit #3 Tested 10:30
- 2:00 Unit #4 Tested 2:00
- 4:30 Unit #5 Tested 4:30
- Evening off Wednesday, August 17, 2005 7:30
- 9:30 Unit #6 Tested 9:30
– 11:00 Unit #7 Tested 11:30
- 4:30 Presentations at Colorado School of Mines 4:30
Barbecue / Entertainment at Colorado School of Mines 6:00
Judges Confer Awards 6:30
Competition Finished
May
13, 2005 – Topic B Announcement Dear Topic B Teams,
May
11, 2005 – Topic A Finalists Announced Congratulations
to the following Topic A finalist teams who are invited to
the final competition event that will begin August 15, 2005 ·
University
of Belgrade, Serbia ·
University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA · University of South Carolina, USA Finalists must ship their hardware to arrive at the following address by close of business Friday, August 12, 2005. Shipments must include operating documentation and experimental verification. The Final Report will be due at the competition event (Monday, August 15, 2005). Prof. Ali Emadi Illinois Institute of Technology Electrical and Computer Engineering Department 3301 S. Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60616-3793 USA Phone: +1-312-567-8940 Fax: +1-312-567-8976 E-mail: emadi@iit.edu Preliminary
final competition agenda for Topic A is as follows.
Monday, August 15, 2005 8:00-8:30
AM
Arrival at the competition test site: MPC Products Corporation, 7426
North Linder Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077, USA. URL: http://www.mpcproducts.com/
8:30-9:30
AM
Welcome and introduction by Prof. Ali Emadi (Illinois Institute of
Technology) and Dr. Nick Nagel (MPC Products Corporation) 9:30-10:00
AM
Students unpack their hardware and are allowed to inspect and
provide judges with “keys” to start; a drawing is performed to establish
testing order. Any repair of hardware is at the discretion of judges. 10:00-12:00 Noon Testing unit #1 12:00-1:00 PM Lunch 1:00-3:00 PM Testing unit #1 continues 3:00-5:00 PM Testing unit #2 6:00 PM Banquet Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:00-10:00 AM Testing unit #2 continues 10:00-12:00 Noon Testing unit #3 12:00-1:00 PM Lunch 1:00-3:00 PM Testing unit #3 continues 3:00 PM Durability test Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:00-10:00 AM Team Presentations at Illinois Institute of Technology 10:00-12:00 Noon Judges meet 12:00-3:00 PM Lunch ceremony; judges confer initial awards 3:00 PM Competition finished
March
28, 2005 – Reminder: Final Progress Reports Final progress
reports are due May 1, 2005. Final progress reports must include preliminary
experimental results and are limited to 25 single-column pages total including
all diagrams, attachments, and appendixes. Final progress reports must present:
1) Team Members, 2) Safety Regulations Established, 3) Technical Status, 4)
Project Timeline, and 5) Educational Impact. The electronic copy of the final
progress report in PDF format must be sent to the topic coordinators via email.
The electronic copy of the report can also be delivered on floppy disk (IBM
format), Zip disk (IBM format), or CD. By May 15, 2005, judges will select finalist teams and finalists will be notified. Selection is based upon likelihood of deliverable hardware, quality of design, and likelihood of success in meeting all the challenge objectives. These finalist teams will be invited to the competition event that will begin August 15, 2005. Teams not selected as finalists are encouraged to attend the final competition and present their design.
March
22, 2005 – Questions and Answers (Topic B) Question 1: How will the DC source used for testing will be power limited. Will it be current limited to the proper current, say 25A @ 40V? Answer: The power supply has the ability to be current limited. The power supply will be a voltage source. Please have the ability to turn off any peak-power tracking for the testing. If the inverter does have peak power tracking, then we could connect to an actual PV array if there is sufficient sunlight for the test, but we would not be able to control the array. Question 2: We understand that the input DC source has a static characteristic. At open circuit, the voltage is 60 V and, at the maximum set power the voltage drops to 30V. Is it correct? Answer: The source will be set to deliver enough current at each voltage (60, 50, 40, 30V) to allow the inverter the capability to always export 1kW. So at 60V and at 30V the inverter output must be 1kW. Question 3: What is the 250W emergency load? Is it always connected at the AC output? Or would it be connected only when the grid is disconnected? Answer: The 250W load can either be connected to a separate electrical connection or to the AC output connection, but it must remain on when the inverter is disconnected from the utility. The 250W load will be connected in both modes. It is up to the team to determine how this is accomplished. November
5, 2004 – Electrical Connections for the Inverter (Topic B) For Topic B (Utility Interactive Inverter System for Small Distributed Generation), the inverters should have a screw down terminal strip for external connection to the input and output. The strip is also called power distribution or splicer blocks, rated at 600V, 35A. It needs to be able to accept #8 AWG size wire. Some suggested U.S. suppliers are Marathon and Newark.
October
22, 2004 – Worksheets: Comparative Cost Analysis Updated cost
(points) worksheets for
Topics A and B, which will be used for the 2005 International Future Energy
Challenge, are: ·
Topic
A Cost (Points) Worksheet ·
Topic
B Cost (Points) Worksheet Please note that these spreadsheets are used for comparative cost analysis. Final reports will require completion of these cost-analysis spreadsheets.
October
11, 2004 –Workshop Highlights We had a two-day workshop for the participants of the
International Future Energy Challenge during the IEEE Industry Applications
Society (IAS) Annual Meeting, in the afternoon of Sunday, October 3rd,
and the morning of Monday, October 4th. Presentations given at the
workshop in PDF format are: · General Competition Information by Dr. Steve Pekarek · Testing Issues by Dr. Phil Krein · Industry Perspectives by Dr. Ira Pitel · Industry Perspectives by Dr. Larry Rinehart · Topic A Specification Review by Dr. Ali Emadi · Topic B – NREL Facilities/Testing by Dr. Ben Kroposki · Topic B Workshop Group Photo #1 and Photo #2 First progress
reports are due November 1, 2004. Progress reports are limited to 10
double-spaced, single-column pages total, including all diagrams, attachments,
and appendixes. Progress reports must present: 1) Team Members, 2) Safety
Regulations Established, 3) Technical Status, 4) Project Timeline, and 5)
Educational Impact. The electronic copy of the progress report in PDF format
must be sent to the topic coordinators via email. The electronic copy of the
report can also be delivered on floppy disk (IBM format), Zip disk (IBM
format), or CD. Organizing committee will
soon provide spreadsheets for comparative cost analysis for each of the two
topics. Final
report will require completion of cost-analysis spreadsheet that will be
provided by the organizing committee soon. Second progress reports are due February 1, 2005. Last progress reports are due May 1, 2005. The reports will be judged by a similar expert panel. By May 15, 2005, judges will select finalist teams. These teams will be invited to the competition event that will begin August 15, 2005. A Final Report will be due at the competition event. Selection is based upon likelihood of deliverable hardware,
quality of design, and likelihood of success in meeting all competition
objectives. Teams not selected as
finalists are encouraged to attend the final competition and present their
design. Finalists must ship their hardware to
arrive at the test site by close of business August 15, 2005. Shipments must
include operating documentation and experimental verification. It is planed to select award winners (Award Categories: Written Technical Report, Presentation, Innovation in Design, Educational Impact, and Others TBD by judges) by the end of the week of the final competition. It is planned to announce these awards at the banquet at the end of the final competition event. However, the competition results will be reviewed further after the final competition event for the possible Grand Prize. In each topic, the team achieving the best overall results that meet all the requirements will receive a Grand Prize of no less than US $10,000 (and more based on sponsorship levels). Possible Grand Prize, in each topic, will be announced at the 2005 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, October 2004, in Hong Kong. For the final competition event in August 2005,
international students should apply for US visas early. The
US has new restrictions on visas and the result is a major increase in the time
required to process and approve applications. For Topic B, please note that NREL requires pre-registration of all visitors (forms will be sent to
teams by May 15, 2005). Organizing committee will also work to provide access to
a block of rooms at the competition hotels. For Topic A, please note that speed regulation and command must be linear 0-10V analog, referenced to the unit case based on 2V/1000 rpm. Speed regulation is ±5% (no load to full load) or ±50 rpm, whichever is greater. No testing will be performed below 150 RPM. July
13, 2004 – International Future Energy Challenge Workshop Travel Grant The IEEE Industry Applications and Power Electronics
Societies will host a workshop for the participants of the International Future
Energy Challenge during the IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting,
October 2004. The two-day workshop will be held the afternoon of Sunday, October
3, and the morning of Monday, October 4. The workshop will focus on the 2005
event, including an overview of the specifications and testing that will be
performed, technical concerns of participants, and safety. There will also be
guest speakers from industry to discuss the latest innovations in power
electronics and motor drives. A representative from each team will give a brief
overview of their team and technical progress. The schools that have been accepted to participate in the
2005 IFEC are eligible to apply for a travel grant which will support a stipend
for only one team member (a student) to participate in the workshop. Only those
students working toward their first degree are eligible. The travel grant will
be awarded upon the evaluation of a proposal addressing: 1)
Team participation in the workshop (a description of those who will be
attending from the team) 2)
Progress that has been made on the project 3)
Support that has been raised for the project 4)
How the school is supporting the team 5)
How attendance at the workshop will be used to enhance the team The proposal must be no longer
than three pages, single-column, double space. The proposal should clearly
indicate the approximate funding that would be required for the student to
attend. It is noted that funding is limited. The organizing committee will
provide a review of proposals and allocate travel funding. One criteria that
will be used is to encourage a diverse audience from multiple international
institutions. Please send your proposal in PDF format to both Marcelo
Godoy Simoes (mgsimoes@ieee.org) and Ali Emadi (emadi@iit.edu) no later than
August 10, 2004. Funding will be announced by August 31, 2004.
May
14, 2004 – Schools informed of acceptance into the
competition The following schools have been accepted to participate in the 2005 International Future Energy Challenge Topic A (Single-Phase Adjustable Speed Motor Drive): ·
University of Belgrade, Serbia ·
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
USA ·
University of South Carolina, USA Topic
B (Utility Interactive Inverter System for Small Distributed Generation): · Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh · Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil · Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN, Brazil · Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives of the RWTH (Aachen) and Institute for Automation of the University of Applied Sciences Cologne (FH Köln), Germany ·
Krishna Institute of
Engineering & Technology, India · Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada · Michigan State University, USA ·
Monash University, Australia · Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China · Seoul National University of Technology, South Korea · State University of Campinas, Brazil · Texas A&M University, USA · University of Central Florida, USA · University of Illinois at Chicago, USA · University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Congratulations to all accepted teams.
News
– April 18, 2004 Line
Current Harmonic Limitations Based on IEC 61000-3-2 for Topic A (Motor Systems) Explanation—The numbers below are taken from tables in standard IEC 61000-3-2, p. 35, for “class A” equipment. Class A equipment includes many household single-phase loads, including appliances. Notice that the limits are presented as absolute ampere values (all values RMS), consistent with the standard. Strictly speaking, IEC 61000-3-2 does not apply to nominal voltages below 220 Vrms. The numbers in the 110 V column are based on similar per-unit system impedance, and must be met by teams with nominal voltages near 110 Vrms. Harmonics are defined here such that n=1 corresponds to the fundamental, n=2 to twice the fundamental, and so on. Please notice that in addition to the limits given here, the input must also achieve a power factor (defined as pf = P/S, where P is average power in watts and S is the product of actual RMS voltage and current) of at least 0.80. Harmonic
limits for Topic A input current
(1)
Per IEC 61000-3-2, p. 35. (2)
Modified from IEC 61000-3-2, p. 35, according to equivalent base
impedance in a lower voltage system. News
– March 13, 2004 · The RFP for Topic B (Utility Interactive Inverter System for Small Distributed Generation) does not specify the definition of peak load. Therefore, we are adding this note: “Peak load will be applied during 20 cycles of the input voltage frequency. Since the system must work with both 50Hz and 60Hz, the worst case is 0.4 seconds.” · Competition Test Site for Topic (A): MPC Products Corporation, 7426 North Linder Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077, USA. URL: http://www.mpcproducts.com/ · Competition Test Site for Topic (B): National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, USA. URL: http://www.eere.energy.gov/distributedpower/flash/der_process2.html · Final Testing (Final Competition): August 15-19, 2005. · A workshop is being organized at the 39th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS), which will be held October 3-7, 2004, at The Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle, USA. There will be an open session on Sunday afternoon for both topics (A) and (B). On Monday, in the morning, there will be two sessions, one for topic (A) and one for Topic (B). ·
The organizing committee stands firm
that each university is limited to one topic area. Each school can support only
one team. · A teaming arrangement of two universities is acceptable, provided that teaming is not used to enter more than one competition. Therefore, if two universities form a team, no other groups from either schools are eligible to participate. ·
In the meeting of
Feb. 24th at APEC, concerns
were raised regarding the expected level of participation of
undergraduate/graduate students in the competition. Conclusions of the
organizing committee are as follows. q
The organizing committee
does not change the RFP. The organizing committee does not add any amendments.
The RFP is very clear in this regard: “Commitment
to excellence in undergraduate education is important, and acceptable proposals
will involve undergraduate students as the primary team members.
Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Graduate students are not excluded, but
the impact on undergraduate education is a critical judging criterion.”
q
Throughout the
competition, undergraduate students (or students pursuing their first university
degree) must play a dominant role. The scoring is set up accordingly. Final
reports must clearly explain the role of each team members. q
Special Award on
Undergraduate Educational Impact will be given at the final competition. q
Oral presentation at the
final competition will be done only by undergraduate students (or students
pursuing their first university degree). These students will be interviewed by
the judging panel. q Only undergraduate students will be considered for possible financial support (travel expenses) by the organizing committee.
News, August 1, 2002
News, July 18, 2002
News, June 18, 2002Proposals are now in peer review, with results to be available no later than August 1, 2002. News, March 1, 2002The complete announcement is posted for the 2003 Future Energy Challenge. There is also information available about the prior 2001 Future Energy Challenge at this link and below. News, October 1, 2001The 2001 Future Energy Challenge final awards were announced October 1, 2001, by Joseph Strakey of the Department of Energy's Strategic Center for Natural Gas. The 2001 Challenge is now complete! Details: $50,000 Challenge Award-Texas A&M University. The judges concluded that this team met the requirements set out in the Federal Register for this prize. The design presented in the student team's final report passed detailed technical evaluations made by the judges. Furthermore, the prototype presented at the test phase of the competition represented the design laid out in the final report, and was proven to operate not only under a dc power supply source, but also under a fuel cell. It achieved successful operation at various load levels (zero power to full power), with both reactive and non-reactive loads. This team's unit was clearly the best performing system shown at the competition, and the team should be encouraged to continue seeking ways to further improve performance and reduce cost so that DOE fuel cell programs can achieve their maximum opportunity. Performance Award, $9000-Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The team showed an excellent package with high quality workmanship. The unit passed effortlessly through the power supply test, which indicates a high probability of success following additional attention to the control section. The team used a design based on supercapacitors. VPI&SU was a Finalist Team. Engineering Award, $5000-University of Central Florida. The team showed exceptional capability given the limited resources available to them. They also had a very small package with a very high quality voltage waveform-one of the better waveforms shown. UCF was a Finalist Team. Report Award, $5000-University of Wisconsin-Madison. The team showed novel designs and provided an excellent representation of their unit and their work in their final report. They also reported exceptional teamwork and student involvement. UWM was a Finalist Team. Presentation Award, $3000-Drexel University. The team gave an excellent presentation at NETL, and worked together to provide a complete picture of their work. Drexel was a Finalist Team. Innovation Award, $3000-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The judges decided that of the teams, UIUC pushed technology furthest with a novel cycloconverter-based design. UIUC was a semi-finalist team. Teams were presented with poster-size checks and tee shirts. Recognition was also given to the Organizing Committee members. This concludes the 2001 Future Energy Challenge. Future additions to this Home Page will include copies of reports and various photos from the competition and the awards events.. News, September 25, 2001 The Future Energy Challenge Awards will be presented by the Assistant Secretary of Energy on Monday, October 1. A total of $75,000 will be awarded. The news will be posted here within a day or two after the luncheon. News, September 4, 2001 The Future Energy Challenge awards will be presented as part of the Myron Zucker Student Luncheon at the IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting. The place is the Hyatt Regency, Chicago. The date is Monday, October 1, 2001. Please connect to the IAS web site for information and to register. News, August 21, 2001. Five Finalist teams and two other teams participated in Test Events at NETL in Morgantown. Three teams were able to get through inspection and initial checkout, and gathered at least some test time. The Texas A&M prototype and Virginia Tech prototype both ran successfully throughout power supply testing. Texas A&M was successful in drawing power from the fuel cell stack During Wednesday presentations, all seven teams presented their work to an audience of interested industry professionals, volunteer judges, and the other schools. A Wednesday evening feedback session was held to get input that will improve follow-up competitions. News, August 9, 2001.Three sets of prototype hardware have arrived in Morgantown. Two other teams are experiencing difficulties, but still plan to participate next week. News, August 7, 2001. Prototype hardware is beginning to arrive in Morgantown as we gear up for the Final Test Event week. Activities begin at 8:30am on Monday, August 13. Five schools are among the Finalist teams being tested. Seven schools, including these five, will present their work at a session on Wednesday afternoon. News, July 26, 2001. Updated August 10, 2001. Thank you to the sponsors. The following organizations have announced sponsorship for events during the competition week, August 13-17, 2001.
Each of these has provided at least $1,000 to assist. Each has also provided significant additional help, through judging, administrative assistance, and direct help with the test events. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge additional support from the schools themselves, and other support for the events during competition week.
If your organization would like to be added, please contact the administrator for the Future Energy Challenge Organizing Committee. If you wish to attend the competition, see the invitation message, the agenda, and the registration form. News, July 18, 2001. Finalist Teams AnnouncedThe Future Energy Challenge judges, representing both IEEE and DOE, have been working with a panel of expert reviewers from IEEE. The judges have just announced five Finalist teams:
These five teams will be competing in laboratory tests for the Challenge Prize of $50,000. The tests will be held at U.S. Department of Energy during the week of August 13, 2001. Visitors and participates will need to register in advance. Registration information is expected by Tuesday, July 24. Also announced is a $5,000 prize opportunity for all fourteen teams.All teams will have the opportunity to present their work at a conference session at NETL on Wednesday, August 15, 2001. There will be a Presentation Award of $5,000 in recognition of excellence in this activity. Details for the teams can be found on the teams-only web page. More information for all participants for the test week will be listed here in the news section over the next few weeks. The judges and reviewers extend congratulations to all the schools for their hard work. News, July 10, 2001. An expert review panel is now at work on reports from the student teams. A list of Finalist Teams will be available within one week. Scheduling is progressing for final testing and competition events. Check-in will take place at the National Energy Technology Laboratory beginning at 9:30am on Monday, August 13. The events are available to the public, but space is limited, so pre-registration is required. Information on how to pre-register will be available some time next week. News, May 8, 2001. There is more detail available now about requirements and judging, both for the final reports and for the finalist test activities. Draft information about these things will be added May 4-7, with a final version set on May 8. The information can be found through the internal teams-only web site. News, April 10, 2001. The competition and testing will take place at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia, beginning August 13, 2001. Up to five Finalist Teams will be invited to participate in these events. News, March 26, 2001. There are several new postings on the team web page. Teams are reminded that access information for this material was sent earlier. News, March 15, 2001: Following an open meeting of the Organizing Committee in Anaheim on March 6, 2001, a number of updates have been provided. There is now a separate Specification Expectation page analogous to the prior RFP page. News, October 26, 2000: An agenda of the Springboard Meeting and NSF Workshop is now available here. News, October 19, 2000: A list of schools with accepted proposals is posted at this web site. Representatives from the list of schools should make plans immediately to attend the Springboard Meeting. News, October 4, 2000: The proposal submission process is complete, and processing is beginning immediately. Two items might be of interest to participants: 1. There is a Power Generation Conference, http://www.powergen.com being held in Orlando immediately following our Springboard Meeting in November. Several commercial fuel cell vendors have reported to us their plans to be at the conference, and a few will join us on November 13 at the Springboard meeting. We are working to see if exhibit passes can be obtained for our teams. 2. It is very important to the Organizing Committee to make sure all aspects of the competition are fair and impartial. A major activity at the November meeting is to involve all the teams in the planning process. We hope to achieve consensus on many organizational and administrative tasks of the competition. The final prizes and awards must depend on performance and results, and not on any personal interests. We urge every approved school to send a faculty advisor and student representative to the November meeting. News, September 27, 2000: Approximately twenty Letters of Intent have been received. We look forward to receiving proposals. A set of frequently-asked questions about proposal review is answered below. News, August 25, 2000: The Request for Proposals is now available in official form. Please look it over carefully and send in your Letter of Intent. RFP web page. Word version of RFP for download. Frequently asked questions (about the competition). Frequently asked questions (about scoring and how it all works). We maintain an archive of answers to prior questions about the proposals, in case anything was missed! The Springboard Meeting is arranged for Orlando, November 11-13, 2000. [Competition announcement poster, in PDF format.] The 2001 Future Energy Challenge Competition is a major national student team program to design and build interfaces for alternative energy sources. The primary focus of the 2001 Challenge is electrical processing of fuel cell sources. Other alternative sources suitable for distributed generation, including solar sources and microturbines, can also be explored. At least $75,000 in prizes have been pledged so far, and we expect the total competition funding to exceed $100,000 before final judging activities in August, 2001. Major funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense. Participation is BY PROPOSAL. Accredited engineering schools wishing to become involved need to organize a student team and prepare a proposal and plan. The schedule is arranged to follow the 2000-2001 academic year. Update, September 2000: The Organizing Committee for the 2001 Future Energy Challenge Competition has been meeting frequently to prepare the specifications, test protocols, and decide on administration issues. The overall schedule is intended to match academic year 2000-2001. The Organizing Committee continues to work on opportunities to assist with sponsorship. The final version of the Request for Proposals is now available. EPRI/PEAC, the power electronics research arm of the Electric Power Research Institute, will be working with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to prepare test protocols and organize the final competition events. Summary of dates: Schools are encouraged to organize teams and do the engineering design early in the first term of the 2000-2001 academic year. The final Request for Proposals is posted August 25, 2000. It includes design specifications as well as administrative information about the proposal. Letter of Intent -- Due September 15, 2000 Proposal -- Due October 2, 2000 (the proposal submission process is complete, and no further proposals will be considered at this time) Response -- The Organizing Committee will post a list of accepted schools by October 20, 2000 with mail confirmation to follow. Springboard Meeting -- The 2001 Future Energy Challenge Springboard Meeting will be held November 11-13, 2000 at the Holiday Inn-Select at the airport in Orlando, Florida. The Organizing Committee intends to fund participation by a Faculty Advisor and a Student Team Leader from each accepted school. Additional representatives are welcome, although they will not be funded (registration cost is $150, and includes most meals). Final activity dates: Final Report due date -- June 15, 2001 Finalists notified -- early July 2001 Final competition to be held at a National Lab site (NETL in Morgantown, W. Va.) Notes: The 2001 Future Energy Challenge Competition was announced late in January 2000 in a notice in the Federal Register. Dates included in this original announcement were tentative. Both the Department of Energy and the IEEE have agreed to participate as sponsors. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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