The Global Energy Association has released the shortlist for the 2026 Global Energy Prize – the final list of this year’s nominees for one of the world’s most prestigious awards in energy science. The roster of the finalists includes 15 scientists from nine countries: Chile, China, Cyprus, India, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States. The shortlist was presented during the panel discussion “The Great Reset of Global Energy”, organised as a part of the SPIEF 2026 business programme at the Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University
The shortlisting crowns the second stage of the nomination cycle. The first stage took place from January 1 to April 20, 2026. In that period, 63 nominations were submitted. Representatives of 30 countries and territories participated in the nomination process, with nominees hailing from 28 countries.
Once the submission process had been closed, an independent panel of international experts began evaluating the submitted works. The nominations were assessed according to an established set of criteria, including scientific novelty, practical significance, and potential for real-life application. Following the selection process, the projects that received the highest scores were shortlisted for the award in three categories: “Traditional Energy,” “Non-Traditional Energy,” and “New Ways of Energy Application.”
Five applications are featured in each category. In the “Traditional Energy” category, the finalists are focused on R&D in the area of smart grids, superconductivity, energy storage, heavy oil technologies, and robotics for the nuclear industry. The “Non-Traditional Energy” category features research in renewable energy, hydrogen technologies, and smart management techniques for energy systems. The “New Ways of Energy Application” category includes projects related to energy efficiency, energy storage, new materials, and decarbonization technologies.
At the final stage of the nomination cycle, an international committee chaired by Nobel laureate Rae Kwon Chung will select the recipients of the prestigious award. The winners will be announced in July at the Oil Summit of the Republic of Tatarstan. According to tradition, the awards ceremony will take place during the Russian Energy Week, a forum scheduled to be held in Moscow, on October 14 to 16.
“Major energy challenges of today cannot be addressed within the confines of a single discipline or a single national system of knowledge,” said Rae Kwon Chung. “This year’s shortlist reflects the vast scale of modern energy science. I am confident that many of the submitted projects will have an impact on the development of global energy in the coming decade. Therefore, I congratulate all the scientists whose names have been included in the short list for the award. This is an unquestionable recognition of their high qualifications, professionalism, and contribution to the growth of global energy, the significance of which we have yet to fully appreciate,” the scientist added.
“The prize’s shortlist is always something more than just a list of finalists,” said Sergey Brilev, President of the Global Energy Association. “It sort of maps the directions that global energy science is taking today. Energy engineering has always developed at the intersection of scientific schools, and this year’s shortlist only confirms this trend. Formally, there will only be three laureates, but experience shows that the prize’s real impact is much broader: many of the works presented here eventually become scalable technologies, begin to influence national economies, and ultimately change the daily lives of millions of people. Therefore, our goal is not only to select the winners but also to make these extraordinary scientists known to the world, to showcase their ideas and the vectors of their research, which may well shape our shared future,” Brilev emphasized.
Traditional Energy
1. Yilu Liu, U.S.
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee
For the creation of large-scale systems for monitoring, control and situational observation of smart grids.
2. Amit Goyal, U.S.
SUNY Distinguished Professor & SUNY Empire Innovation Professor; Director, Laboratory for Heteroepitaxial Growth of Functional Materials & Devices, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo
For working out methods aiding the production of high-performance high-temperature superconducting wires.
3. Haisheng Chen, China
Director of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
For active involvement in the construction of large-scale physical energy storage systems and for advancement of compressed air energy storage technologies.
4. Jorge Ancheyta-Juarez, Mexico
Professor at the Higher School of Chemical Engineering and Extractive Industries (ESIQIE) at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico
For leadership in technologies for the modernization of production, transportation and processing of heavy oil.
5. Alexander Batanov, Russia
Head and Chief Designer of the Special Design and Technology Bureau of Applied Robotics
For phenomenal input in the development, creation and practical application of robotics to improve energy safety at nuclear industry facilities.
Non-Traditional Energy
1. Bhim Singh, India
Emeritus Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi
For exceptional long-term efforts in R&D in the field of renewable energy power systems.
2. Soteris Kalogirou, Cyprus
Professor at Cyprus University of Technology
For pioneering work in the application of artificial intelligence to performance prediction, design, and fault diagnosis of renewable energy systems.
3. Yushan Yan, U.S.
Director, Center for Clean Hydrogen, University of Delaware
For forward-looking ideas and work facilitating clean hydrogen production technology and progress in transforming this technology into a global commercial project.
4. Josep M. Guerrero, China
Center for Research on Renewable Energy and Microgrids, Huanjiang Laboratory, Zhejiang University
For groundbreaking research, inventions and design of control architectures for power electronics-based microgrids that enable integration of renewable energy sources and distributed energy storage into modern power systems.
5. José H. Zagal Moya, Chile
Professor Emeritus, Director of the Electrocatalysis Laboratory, University of Santiago de Chile
For outstanding engagement in the improvement and upgrade of the energy sector in Latin America and, in particular, for the promotion of green hydrogen in Chile.
New Ways of Energy Application
1. Johann W. Kolar, Switzerland
Professor Emeritus at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ETH Zurich
For breakthrough advancement in energy conversion technology to drive energy efficiency, electric mobility, and renewable energy systems.
2. Jun Liu, U.S.
Director of the Innovation Center for Battery500 Consortium, Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
For prominent contributions to the R&D and practical implementation of cost-effective energy storage materials and technologies.
3. Yulong Ding, UK
Founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham and Director of Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage
For the invention, rollout and commercialization of thermal energy storage technologies based on liquid air and composite phase materials.
4. William A. Goddard, U.S.
Director of the Materials and Process Simulation Center at the California Institute of Technology
For the elaboration of computational and multiscale modeling methods that provide new insight into the behavior of complex material systems.
5. Laura Gagliardi, U.S.
Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
For fundamental research and design of metal-organic structures for water harvesting and carbon dioxide capture.
