Dublin university students claim top €12,000 prize at EirGrid’s CleanerGrid competition

Two students from University College Dublin have been announced as winners of the third annual EirGrid CleanerGrid Competition, following an event held in Dublin. 

Team members Peter McHugh and Rory Tobin from UCD’s masters of energy systems engineering claimed first place for their data driven model to reduce offshore wind dispatch down by optimally siting and sizing flexible energy storage systems, focusing on battery energy storage and hydrogen. 

With a top prize of €12,000 (€6,000 for the winning student team and €6,000 for the student’s third-level institute), this year’s theme asked students to explore “Opportunities and challenges in accelerating offshore wind potential.” 

The award was presented to the winners by a panel of expert judges - Louise O’Flanagan, Head of Asset Management and Engineering at EirGrid, James Ives, CEO of XOCEAN, Dee Kehoe, Continuous Professional Development Director at Engineers Ireland, Dr. Brendan Cahill, Programme Manager for Innovation & International Research at SEAI and Dr. David Tosh, Lecturer in Terrestrial Ecology and Course Director at Ulster University. 

The CleanerGrid competition run by EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, aims to foster innovation and creativity by encouraging students to showcase their skills in solving critical energy challenges, with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and clean energy technologies. 

Entrants were asked to present innovative, practical solutions that address both the opportunities and obstacles in developing Ireland’s offshore electricity infrastructure.  

Among the ideas put forward by the three competing teams of finalists included the use of autonomous underwater vehicles and a dashboard to monitor wind turbine outages off Ireland's coast. These teams were selected from a strong field of thirty-two submissions, involving 115 students across nine higher level institutions. 

Following the event, the students spoke positively of their experience. 

“Offshore is a relatively young industry in Ireland so to be able to learn more about it has been really interesting. We might have done a lecture or two in our course before but understand the landscape much better now,” said McHugh.  

“We started looking at the project back in October, so we had plenty of time to think about the prompt and decide what we wanted to do.” 

Tobin added, “There is a big drive to increase the number of renewables on our grid, and our project looked to address how that can be achieved successfully with offshore. I really enjoyed the process, and energy is an industry I would be interested in working in, in the future.” 

Congratulating all the teams on an engaging series of presentations, EirGrid Chief Transformation, Technology and Offshore Officer Liam Ryan said, “This is our third annual CleanerGrid completion and year-on-year it is fantastic to see the projects designed by third level students. Offshore wind has the potential for transformative opportunities for Ireland and is essential for strengthening our energy security, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and meeting our climate targets. Bringing students and young people with us on that journey is key. 

“Through our third level institutions, these students are immersed in the latest cutting-edge innovations, and their research and fresh thinking are more valuable than ever, as we move toward delivering Government targets for a sustainable, resilient, renewable energy system. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who participated in the competition and to the three team who presented in today’s final.”