Next Generation Network (NGN) Paper Competition

Are you an individual with a passion to share your experience and knowledge with industry professionals from across the nation? Have you ever thought about writing a technical paper? Are you seeking to put your skills to the test in competition with other young professionals from across the United States?

If so, the 2025 CIGRE NGN Paper Competition is Accepting Submissions Now!


2025 NGN Paper Competition Information

 

The CIGRE-US National Committee Next Generation Network (NGN) is holding their annual synopsis (abstract) and paper competition to encourage students and early professionals to share their experience and knowledge with others in the industry.

The CIGRE-US NGN Synopsis Template must be used to format the synopsis for submittal. A list of preferred topics to align with the 2025 Grid of the Future Symposium can be found on the Call for Papers or below. Paper topic selection from this list is encouraged but not required. The authors of the top 10 synopses will prepare technical papers. The authors of the top five papers will present their papers at the 2025 Grid of the Future Symposium in Denver, Colorado, where one grand prize will be awarded.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

To qualify for the competition, you must fulfill both requirements 1 and 2:

  1. Be a current CIGRE member located in the United States. 2025 student membership is free!
  2. Be either a or b
    • a) Undergraduate student or graduate student with an interest in power systems, or
    • b) Power system professional with 10 years or less full-time experience.
      • Power system experience for this competition is classified as any full-time experience beyond the last degree received in the power field.

 

THE SYMPOSIUM SCOPE COVERS THE FOLLOWING GENERAL TOPICS:

Enhancing Grid Resilience: Infrastructure Resilience, Microgrids, Resilience Quantification, Big Data for Resilience, Resilience Planning, Aging Infrastructure & Asset Management, FLISR, DC Microgrids, Proactive Reconfiguration, Community Resilience, Localized Resilience Benefits, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), Mobile Storage, Long Duration Storage, Wind and Solar Integration

Grid Operation, Automation & Management: Modern Energy Management Systems (EMS), ADMS, Renewable Integration, Solar & Storage Microgrid, Long-Duration Storage, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, Innovations in Battery Chemistry, Battery Diagnostics, Cybersecurity Standards, Advanced Communication Applications, Fiber, LTE, 5G, Broadband, IoT-based Wireless Technologies, Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Edge Computing, Smart EV Charging, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X)

Climate Change Adaptation: Climate Risk to System Assets, Managing the Impact of Decarbonization, Improving Grid Biodiversity, Innovative T&D Engineering to Limit Environmental Impacts, Life-Cycle Assessment, Generation Planning, Policies and Regulations, Migration Effects, Clean Energy During Pandemic and Global Unrest, Distribution Markets

Intelligent Protection and Controls: Voltage Optimization, T&D Monitoring, Adaptive Relaying, Automation and Restoration, Bi-directional Power Flow, IEC 61850, Digital Substation, System Reconfiguration, DERMS, Home and Building Automation, DER Protection Study, DER Integration and Control

Beneficial Electrification: Smart Cities, Smart Villages, Smart Homes, Managed Charging, Fleet Electrification, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X), Autonomous Vehicles, Extreme Fast Charging, Plug-in Hybrid EV (PHEV), Wireless Charging, Building Electrification, Conservation Voltage Reduction, Industrial Electrification

T&D Modeling, Sensors and Data Analytics: Real-time Modeling, Hardware-in-the Loop (HIL), Control-HIL, Digital-Twin, DER Modeling, Hybrid AC-DC Systems, Cyber-Attack Modeling, EV Modeling and Simulation, EV Planning Studies, Synchrophasor Technology, Power Quality, AMI Data, Bellwether Meters, Low-Cost Sensors, Big Data, Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

 

Competition Format
May 19, 2025 - Synopsis Due
June 16, 2025 - Notify Top 10 Synopses
August 29, 2025 - Top 10 Technical Papers Due
September 22, 2025 - Notify Top 5 Papers
November 10-13, 2025 - Paper Presentations and 1st Place Winner Announced