The University of Connecticut (UConn) and Eversource today (July 3) announced the 12 student finalists for the 2024 Clean Energy and Sustainability Innovation Program (CESIP). The Program, which is in its second year, is designed to challenge students interested in the clean energy transition through a funded research competition and is part of UConn and Eversource's innovative public-private partnership to develop state-of-the-art approaches to clean and reliable power.
The full list of projects and student teams selected for the 2024 Clean Energy and Sustainability Innovation Program can be found on the program's website. Read more about these teams online.
UConn undergraduate and graduate students were invited to respond to a challenge question formulated by UConn and Eversource that asks them to consider ways to meet the State of Connecticut's aggressive clean energy and economic development goals. Submissions considered a wide range of disciplines and research methods including economic modeling and analysis, legislative and policy changes, financial evaluation of costs to customers and developers, rate of growth of renewables and electric load, impact to the transmission and distribution electrical grid, as well as the integration of new energy technologies to meet anticipated load growth.
"The committee was really impressed with this year's submissions," said UConn's Emmanouil Anagnostou, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Eversource Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering. "The students considered a range of technological, regulatory and policy elements involved in an interdisciplinary solution to our climate crisis. I'm very interested to see how they're going to approach this summer's experiential learning opportunity."
"The energy, sustainability and economic development challenges faced by the State of Connecticut demand fresh perspectives and innovative solutions," said Eversource President of Transmission and Offshore Wind Projects Bill Quinlan. "Eversource is proud to partner with UConn to support this year's talented students in developing solutions to advance a cleaner, more sustainable future."
Students will receive funding and be paired with UConn faculty and Eversource mentors over the summer to support the development of ideas on the real-world dimensions and details of the clean energy transition. Through this program, students will get to workshop their ideas in both an academic and industry setting and develop the skills to apply critical thinking to their clean energy and sustainability proposals. Teams will then present their projects at the second annual Sustainable Clean Energy Summit at the UConn Storrs campus on September 23, which will feature U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Electricity Gene Rodrigues.
The CESIP challenge is supported by the Eversource Transmission organization alongside the UConn Eversource Energy Center, College of Engineering, Office of Sustainability, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Business.
CONTACT:
Claire Tremont, UConn
(860) 486-1734
claire@uconn.edu
Tricia Modifica, Eversource
(860) 605-4605
tricia.modifica@eversource.com
