Mayo student wins national competition

A Mayo student has been announced as a winner of the second annual EirGrid CleanerGrid Competition, following an event held in Dublin recently.
Eoin Duffy from Ballina, alongside his fellow UCD student teammates Ruairí Collins, and Stephen Murphy have together claimed the top prize of €12,000 (€6,000 for the winning student team and €6,000 for the student’s third-level institute), for their proposal showing how pumped hydro energy storage could help with managing wind and solar energy variability.
This year’s theme asked students to “Present your vision of what the growing energy sector will need to look like in 2050 to have sustainably achieved net-zero emissions”.
The CleanerGrid competition run by EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, aims to foster innovation and creativity by encouraging third-level students to showcase their skills in solving critical energy challenges, with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and clean energy technologies.
Entrants were asked to show how the grid will need to change to allow for more renewable sources and less conventional generation; including what government policies will need to be in place, how the economy will be affected, how the grid will need to adapt, how technology can help achieve this goal, or any other relevant points they identify in order to create a resilient energy system for the future.
Among the ideas put forward by the five competing teams of finalists from DCU, University of Galway, UCD and Trinity College Dublin included pumped hydro energy storage, leveraging our coasts through offshore wind and the use of artificial intelligence in grid enhancement.
Eoin Duffy along with his team mates have won €6,000 for their team and €6,000 for their third-level institution