LOS ANGELES (July 27, 2016) — XPRIZE, the
world’s leader in designing and managing incentive competitions to solve
humanity’s grand challenges, today announced a total of 47 entries from seven
countries will contend to win the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a global
competition to develop breakthrough technologies that convert the most CO2
into one or more products with the highest net value. Competing teams
hail from Canada, China, India, Finland, Switzerland, Scotland and the United
States. An Advisory Board of nine leading experts in the fields of chemical and
biological engineering, energy and sustainability and public policy, also
announced today, will advise the Carbon XPRIZE.
The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, launched in September 2015,
addresses global CO2 emissions by incentivizing innovative solutions
to convert CO2 from a liability into an asset. The 4-½ year
competition will include two tracks, with the new technologies tested at either
a coal power plant or a natural gas facility. Among the teams competing are
leading carbon capture technology companies, top-tier academic institutions,
non-profits, new startups and even a father and son team. A complete listing of
teams competing in Round 1 is posted on the XPRIZE site: www.xprize.org .
“These teams, as well as our advisory board, represent an
exciting mix of talent with expertise across a broad spectrum of sciences that
will be applied to create technologies that mitigate CO2 emissions
globally,” said Paul Bunje, Ph.D., principal and senior scientist, Energy and
Environment group at XPRIZE. “Such widespread interest and support demonstrates
an unwavering global commitment to take a radical leap forward to address
climate change.”
The $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE features three rounds of
competition. In Round 1, each team
submitted project documents surrounding technical and business viability
assessments of its approach, and independent panel judging underway. Up to 15
semi-finalist teams in each track are scheduled to be announced on Oct. 15,
2016. Round 2 enables teams to
demonstrate their technologies in a controlled environment using a simulated
power plant flue gas stream, with up to five teams in each track moving forward
and sharing a $2.5 million milestone purse. Round 3 entails larger scale technology
demonstration under real world conditions, with access to two test centers
adjacent to existing power plants. In each track, the winner will be awarded a
$7.5 million grand prize.
An Iowa-based team called EE-AGG is among the 47 entries
competing in the Carbon XPRIZE Competition. The EE-AGG Team is coordinated by
Dr. Mark Edelman, economist and Iowa State University professor from Boone, IA. Along with Edelman, EE-AGG includes Dr. Eric
Wagner, Vice President for Technology Development, Technip Stone and Webster Process
Technology Inc., from Claremont, CA; John Wooley, Earth Energy Renewables business
leader from Austin, TX; David Stevens, Director of Operations and Economic
Development Program Manager for Harrison County Rural Electric Cooperative
located at Woodbine IA; Dr. Zhichao Wang, Carbon Consultant for EcoEngineers based
in Des Moines, IA; and 22 other company board members and technical advisors
from across the country. EE-AGG is commercializing
proprietary processes developed by Dr. Gary Young, P.E., Bio-Thermal-Energy
Inc., of Cedar Rapids, IA in combination with other commercially available
technologies.
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Media Contacts: Eric Desatnik / Jackie Wei
310.741.4892 / 310.741.4918
Iowa Team Contacts: Mark Edelman / Alex Merk
515.298.1871 / 515.290.4575
