“The wide geography of shortlisted applications underlines the international status of the Prize, which is a recognized benchmark for research and development in the field of energy. Due to the wide variety and depth of topics presented, the International Committee will have the opportunity to select the best of the best,” said Nobel laureate Rae Kwon Chung, Chairman of the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee.
The drawing up of the shortlist marked the conclusion of the second stage of the Prize’s nomination cycle. The first stage – acceptance of applications for the Prize – took place between January 1 and April 19, 2024; over that period, more than 50 nomination submissions in total have been filed from every part of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. The submissions were brought before the independent experts who evaluated them according to a fixed set of criteria, including scientific novelty and practical value. In each category – Conventional Energy, Non-Conventional Energy, New Ways of Energy Application – the top five applications with the highest average score were determined to make up the shortlist.
The laureates of the 2024 Global Energy Prize will be chosen during a closed meeting of the International Award Committee to be held in July.
The shortlist of the 2024 Global Energy Prize includes:
Conventional Energy Nomination
1. Zi-Qiang Zhu, UK
Head of the Electrical Machines and Drives Research Group, University of Sheffield
For outstanding contribution to electrified transportation, improving energy efficiency of domestic appliances, reducing emissions for generation and utilisation of electric power and producing electricity from renewable energy sources.
2. Fei Duan, Singapore
Associate Professor, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University
For contribution to liquefied natural gas-fueled power cogeneration system from the gas turbine and customised thermoacoustic engine and two-phase direct immersion cooling data centre system.
3. Leonard Vasiliev, Belarus
Head of the Porous Media Laboratory, A.V. Lykov Heat&Mass Transfer Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
For significant contribution to improving the efficiency of technologies for transmitting, transforming and storing energy from renewable and low-potential sources.
4. Abdulaziz Al-Qasim, Saudi Arabia
Head of Upstream Hydrogen Technology and Sustainability, Saudi Aramco
For pioneering contribution to the field of energy in the areas of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, and the advancement of sustainable hydrogen energy solutions.
5. Alexander Mikhalevich, Belarus
Director, Institute of Energy Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
For outstanding contribution to the scientific substantiation of the development of nuclear energy.
Non-Conventional Energy Nomination
1. Héctor D. Abruña, USA
Emile Chamot Professor of Chemistry, Cornell University
For the foundational contributions spanning electrochemistry, batteries, fuel cells and molecular electronics.
2. Issa Batarseh, USA
Pegasus Professor, Director of the Florida Power Electronics Center, University of Central Florida
For outstanding technical contributions to the design, development, and commercialisation of power electronics technology for the integration of renewable resources for improving the environment.
3. Soteris Kalogirou, Republic of Cyprus
Professor, Cyprus University of Technology
For innovative and globally impactful work on solar water heaters, new types of solar collectors, photovoltaics, solar industrial processes and solar desalination significantly advancing the technology of harnessing solar energy effectively.
4. Jinyue Jerry Yan, Hong Kong (China)
Chair Professor of Energy and Buildings, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
For the development of the first pilot Evaporative Gas Turbine supported by accurate thermophysical models and the innovation in integrating distributed energy systems with grids for higher renewable penetration.
5. Hongxing Yang, Hong Kong (China)
Professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
For fundamental research and development of renewable energy technologies for application in buildings including integrated solar photovoltaics, indirect evaporative cooling, in line hydropower harvesting and ground coupled heat pump technologies.
New Ways of Energy Application Nomination
1. Amit Goyal, USA
SUNY Distinguished Professor & SUNY Empire Innovation Professor
Director, Laboratory for Heteroepitaxial Growth of Functional Materials & Devices
Director, NYS Center on Plastics Recycling Research & Innovation
State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo
For pioneering research and contributions to applied high temperature superconductivity, including fundamental scientific advances and technical innovations enabling large-scale applications of novel materials worldwide.
2. Mohammad Nazeeruddin, Switzerland
Professor Emeritus, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
For outstanding contribution to optoelectronic materials, dye-sensitised and perovskite solar cells and synthetic materials designed at the molecular level for energy applications.
3. Minggao Ouyang, China
Professor, Tsinghua University
For technical leadership in strategic planning, research, demonstration and commercialisation of new energy vehicles, especially for solving technical challenges of hydrogen fuel cell durability, lithium-ion battery safety and vehicle-to-grid interaction.
4. Garri Popov, Russia
Professor, Director, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics, Moscow Aviation Institute
For outstanding achievements in theoretical and experimental studies of efficient use of electric energy for injecting spacecraft into the high final orbits.
5. Kouki Matsuse, Japan
Emeritus Professor, Meiji University
For pioneering contributions to advancement of technologies for improving the energy efficiency of motor drive systems.
