ESSENCE Summer School reached the final

Posted on July 29th, 2021

On July 28, 2021, the online closing and award ceremony for the ESSENCE Summer School took place. During three weeks, the student teams affiliated to 10 universities from Latvia, France, Slovakia, Russia, and Vietnam have been studying intensively and mastering in practice to resolve multidisciplinary tasks of the solar energy projects.

The case was resolved in four steps: selecting photovoltaic (PV) power plant equipment, estimating their costs and payback time, day-ahead forecasting of PV power plant operation using machine-learning algorithms, optimal dynamic reconfiguration of the distribution network, and selecting smart grid digital control. Despite the difficult task, 20 teams reached the final and presented their accomplishments. The performance of student teams was highly evaluated by a highly reputable international jury.

The first place was shared by two teams. The Grand Prix special awards from Tet Ltd. (www.tet.lv) – smart watches with extensive functionality – were presented to “3-in-1” team from P6/UrFU, Russia, who received the highest jury scores. The second first-place team “TBD-1” from P2/Grenoble INP, France won the ESSENCE Project Award – wi-fi headsets and the possibility of publishing a paper in the proceedings of the international scientific conference USSEC organized by P6/UrFU. In stiff competition, only with one point difference, the second place was gained by the “Half & Half” team from P4/TPU, Russia, while the third place was allocated to another team from P2/Grenoble INP, France. A special award from InteLAB LLC – an online internship at the company – was awarded to P10/HUMG team from Vietnam. “SolX” team from P1/RTU, Latvia gained another special prize for the best video about the team.

The ESSENCE project team is very grateful to all the participants, supporters, and everyone involved in the organization and implementation of ESSENCE Summer School!