$100,000 ACC Clean Energy Challenge Open for Entries

Submissions Accepted from Universities in the Southeastern United States

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Jan. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a business innovation competition that encourages students to develop and commercialize new clean energy technologies, is now accepting entries.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the ACC Clean Energy Challenge is open to student teams throughout the southeastern United States developing commercially promising technologies in the clean energy space, including projects related to renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements and advanced fuels/vehicles. Teams must be comprised of at least 50 percent student members.

The winner of the competition will receive a $100,000 grand prize in addition to competing in the DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition Finals in Washington, D.C., in summer 2014.

Initial entries, which must include an executive summary and video pitch, are due February 14, 2014. Selected semi-finalists will be invited to compete in the ACC Clean Energy Challenge Finals Competition, to be held March 25-26, 2014 at the University of Maryland.

This competition is open to all graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled in accredited colleges or universities in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

Last year, Bioadhesive Alliance, Inc., a company from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University developing a bio-based adhesive for potential use as a substitute to petroleum-based asphalt binder, won the $100,000 grand prize. Bioadhesive Alliance emerged as champion out of a "Final Four" field that included Clemson University, NC State and Duke, after which the company went on to represent the region at the DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition in Washington, D.C.

As part of the Obama Administration's effort to support the next generation of American clean energy entrepreneurs, the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy awarded $360,000 for the ACC Clean Energy Challenge and a total of $2 million to the ACC and five additional regions in the U.S. as a part of its nationwide network of student-focused clean energy business plan competitions.

Additional regional winners included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Northeast Region; the California Institute of Technology in the Western Region; Rice University in the Western Southwest Region; Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust in the Eastern Midwest Region; and the University of Colorado in the Western Midwest Region.

Interested students can find more information and enter at: www.accnrg.org.

SOURCE University of Maryland