Two University College Dublin students have won the third annual EirGrid CleanerGrid Competition, held in Dublin.

Peter McHugh and Rory Tobin, from UCD's master's in energy systems engineering, took first place with a data-driven approach to cut offshore wind dispatch-down by optimally locating and sizing flexible energy storage, focusing on battery systems and hydrogen. The €12,000 top award is split equally between the winning team (€6,000) and their university (€6,000). This year’s brief asked teams to examine "Opportunities and challenges in accelerating offshore wind potential".

The finalists were assessed 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.

Run by EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, the CleanerGrid competition encourages innovation and creativity in tackling critical energy issues, with an emphasis on sustainability, efficiency and clean technologies. Entrants proposed practical ideas to unlock Ireland’s offshore electricity potential; suggestions included the use of autonomous underwater vehicles and a dashboard to monitor turbine outages off Ireland's coast. Three finalist teams were chosen from 32 submissions, involving 115 students across nine higher education institutions.

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"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," said McHugh.

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, 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."