US DOE opens new round of Marine Energy Collegiate Competition

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has opened applications for the fifth annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC), which aims to prepare the future workforce for the marine energy industry.

Illustration/ The wave tank facilities on NREL Flatirons Campus (Courtesy of US DOE/Photo by Joe DelNero/NREL)Illustration/ The wave tank facilities on NREL Flatirons Campus (Courtesy of US DOE/Photo by Joe DelNero/NREL)

MECC has been established to help undergraduate and graduate students prepare for jobs in marine energy and related industries by challenging them to develop unique solutions to advance these technologies.

The 2024 MECC edition requires multidisciplinary teams to develop solutions for ways marine energy can help power the blue economy.

Teams will compete in four challenges:

The Business Plan Challenge, in which teams identify a promising blue economy market and determine the best marine energy application to address within that market,
The Technical Design Challenge, in which teams design a marine energy-powered device to serve consumers within the team’s chosen market,
The Build and Test Challenge, in which teams build and test a scaled prototype of their concept,
The Community Connections Challenge, in which teams conduct outreach activities to educate their communities about marine energy.

The 2024 MECC teams will be eligible for an initial cash prize purse to support their competition activities. The teams will then compete for overall first, second, and third place awards as well as awards for each of the individual challenges mentioned above.

Supported by DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), MECC strives to engage students with a wide range of skills, experiences, and perspectives. The competition offers students the chance to engage with leaders of marine energy companies and learn about the sector from industry insiders.

Industry members have played an important role in the success of these competitions by providing educational presentations, serving as judges during the final events, and networking with students to offer career advice and make connections that helped them land jobs.

Competition organizers encourage undergraduate and graduate students from post-secondary institutions – including colleges, universities, community colleges, and trade schools – to apply. Both US and non-US institutions can apply, but only the US institutions are eligible to receive WPTO funding.

Partnerships between US and non-US institutions are welcomed, the organizers noted.

Interested teams can apply through the MECC website, with applications due by April 24, 2023.

To remind, the 2023 MECC teams are gearing up for the competition’s final events. A total of 19 teams compete, and the award ceremony will be held on May 9, 2023 during the Waterpower Week 2023 in Washington D.C.