The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office’s Hydropower Collegiate Competition (HCC), invites interdisciplinary teams of postsecondary, undergraduate, and graduate students from a variety of academic programs to solve complex hydropower challenges.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 05/02/2026
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Through the competition, DOE intends to offer students direct industry experience, valuable exposure to hydropower career pathways, and greater knowledge of hydropower’s potential to contribute to a reliable and secure energy future.
Goals
The competition’s goals are to:
- Bring together groups of students from multiple disciplines and backgrounds.
- Encourage teams to explore opportunities for hydropower using real-world concept development experiences.
- Inspire future innovators to tackle the challenges and opportunities surrounding hydropower development
Prize
- The competition will award up to 15 student teams, based on the application scoring criteria, $5,000 and the opportunity to participate in HCC.
- The teams winning the Application Stage are eligible to compete in challenges in January and February of 2027 (i.e., the January and February Challenges) for a chance to win $5,000. Teams awarded for the January and February challenges are then eligible to compete for the awards for the Optional Build and Test Challenge, Final Event, and Grand Prize.
- Teams that complete the Final Presentation at the Final Event will win a cash prize of $2,000. The teams awarded in the Optional Build and Test Challenge will win additional cash prizes of $1,000 and $2,000, for successfully completing the Build and Test Challenge–February Submission and the Prototype and Presentation, respectively.
- There is also a Grand Prize, in which winners will receive a portion of the $20,000 Grand Prize purse.
Eligibility and Competitors
Up to 15 teams will be awarded at the Application Stage and eligible to participate in the full competition. The competition seeks to bring together interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate student teams and is only open to academic institutions, subject to the following requirements:
- Interested teams must submit an initial application and be awarded at the Application Stage to compete in the full competition.
- Teams may consist of a combination of undergraduate and graduate students but must be at least 50% students who are pursuing their bachelor’s and/or associate’s degree at the beginning of the competition. Teams must also identify a team faculty advisor representing the lead academic institution.
- To be eligible for cash prizes, academic institutions must have federally recognized accreditation.
- Non-U.S. institutions are eligible to participate on their own, without a U.S. university partner; however, these teams will not be eligible to receive cash prizes.
- A single team may be comprised of multiple institutions; however, multi-institutional teams must designate a lead institution. For teams comprising U.S. and non-U.S. institutions, the lead institution must be an eligible U.S. institution to receive cash prizes.
- Each institution may sponsor only one team. DOE will not accept multiple applications from a single institution (either as a single institution or a lead institution). DOE will inform applicants of any instance of multiple submissions.
- DOE employees, DOE support service contractors and national laboratory contractors, employees of sponsoring organizations, members of their immediate families (e.g., spouses, children, siblings, or parents), and persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not related, are not eligible to participate in the prize.
- Individuals who worked at DOE (federal employees or support service or national laboratory contractors) within six months prior to the submission deadline of any contest are not eligible to participate in the prize.
- Federal entities and federal employees are not eligible to participate in any portion of the prize.
- Current university students who are employed at DOE national labs can participate, including interns, subject to demonstration by the participant mitigation measures are in place to sufficiently address potential conflicts. DOE will not accept submissions that rely on the resources of the federal lab facilities by virtue of the university student’s employment.
- Entities and individuals publicly banned from doing business with the U.S. government—such as entities and individuals debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participating in federal programs—are not eligible to compete.
- Individuals participating in a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) sponsored by a Foreign Country of Concern (FCOC) 3 and teams that include such individuals are not eligible to compete.
- Entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government of a country of risk are not eligible to compete.
For more information, visit DOE.
