The energy crisis and the rising costs of electricity are frequently in the headlines, but what is the solution? How can we balance energy needs with responsible climate management, whilst maintaining affordable prices? This was the question N-Power a leading gas and electricity supplier asked students in its annual inter-university competition designed to find the brightest minds in their penultimate or final year of undergraduate study, in the UK and the Netherlands.

Leading the pack as Captain for the University of Birmingham is Kame Tseja , a 20 final year student of Chemical & Energy Engineering from Kogi State, Nigeria  and Co- Captain is Jennifer Omige 20 from Edo State also a final year in Chemical Engineering.  They are tipped to be graduating with First Class honors.

There are three stages of the competition:

1.       500 word proposal, on ‘Regional Heats’ The judges will be looking for solutions that deal with: affordability, public perception of your solution, security of supply, sustainability, customer loyalty and retention on Regional Heats.

2.        6minute presentation to a board of judges.

3.       8 minute presentation to the board of directors of the N-Power in the International Finals in Westminster, UK

The have scaled stage one and two and are now officially in the finals beating 30 teams across the UK. Each winning team member will be awarded £1,250 and the team will win an additional £5,000 for the academic department of the supporting lecturer. Hopefully these bright young minds will come back to Nigeria and contribute to solving our electricity issues.

To find out more about the challenge please visit: http://www.npower.com/energychallenge/