GRID OF THE FUTURE™ 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 document 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:

Be a current CIGRE member located in the United States. 2025 student membership is free!
- Register Here!
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 12, 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 First Place Winner Will be Announced

Submissions

Synopsis

All participants must submit their synopsis using the CIGRE USNC NGN Synopsis Template by May 12, 2025 to Jodie Lupton.

SYNOPSIS GUIDELINES

Use the provided Synopsis Template. If it is not used, your synopsis will be returned for reformatting.
The synopsis should be between 500 and 750 words.
It should not contain any pictures, graphics, or charts.
References can be included if necessary to properly credit outside works.

Ten participants will then be selected to submit full technical papers. The ten participants will be notified no later than June 16, 2025.

Paper

The top 10 participants must send their full technical papers by August 29, 2025 to Jodie Lupton.

Upon notification, the 10 participants will receive the NGN Paper Template which they are required to use for their technical papers.

Five participants will then be selected to present their papers at the 2025 Grid of the Future™ Symposium. They will receive notification no later than September 22, 2025.

Presentation

The five participants will each present at the 2025 Grid of the Future™ Symposium on (NOVEMBER 10-13, 2025) during the Symposium in Denver, Colorado. Each participant will have ten minutes for their presentation, followed by five minutes of Q&A.
The first-place winner will be announced at the Grid of the Future™ Symposium.

Prizes

All top five participants will receive complimentary Grid of the Future™ Symposium registration ($500 value).
The winning participant will have the option to choose between registration to the 2026 CIGRE Paris Session or the 2026 CIGRE Grid of the Future™ (GOTF) Symposium. In either case, the winner will receive a travel stipend of up to $3000 as well as the opportunity to submit for a presentation slot at the preferred event.
All prizes are contingent on attendance at the events.

Rules

All synopses must follow the Paper Competition Guidelines and use the paper competition synopsis template.
During the synopsis step, if the participant’s synopsis is not selected to prepare a paper, participants are encouraged to prepare a paper based on the synopsis and submit it for the 2025 Grid of the Future™ Symposium.
If a participant’s paper is selected as one of the top 5 to present at the 2025 Grid of the Future™ Symposium, they may submit it to the NGN competition ONLY. They are NOT allowed to submit the paper for the Grid of the Future™ Symposium.
If the participant’s paper is not selected to be in the top 5 papers, the participant is encouraged to submit the paper to the 2025 Grid of the Future™ Symposium. The deadline for submission will be extended to accommodate NGN paper competition participants.