In July of 2015, a team of four NCSU ECE undergraduate students participated for the first time in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Future Energy Competition (IFEC) and won the best Energy Efficiency award at the final competition at the University of Sheffield, UK. 
Winning high density and high efficiency bidirectional AC-DC converter developed by NCSU teamThe IEEE IFEC is an international undergraduate student competition for innovation, conservation, and effective use of electrical energy. The competition is open to college and university student teams from recognized engineering programs around the world.
The 2015 competition topic was to develop a high density, high efficiency energy storage device capable of mimicking a synchronous generator. The topic is highly relevant because people around the world are looking for more efficient energy storage solutions for renewable sources.
Most renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are not constant and are location-dependent, causing a lot of challenges for grid operators in the integration of wind and solar generation. One important solution is to adopt storage systems that can efficiently store these renewable sources.
The NCSU team implemented an advanced storage design (utilizing the latest high voltage GaN power transistor) and achieved a battery-to-grid energy conversion efficiency of more than 93%, beating out six other highly ranked universities from around the world, including schools from Taiwan, China, Bangladesh, and the United States.
NCSU undergraduate team members are Taha Arif, Steffon Brigman, Pedro Torres and Shawn Grimsley (3 rising seniors, 1 rising junior). They are mentored by Prof. Alex Huang and Dr. Ruiyang Yu.
The team worked hard for over six months to get their storage device fully functioning in time for the competition. FREEDM Systems Center, ECE and Kenan Institute of Engineering provided financial support for their travel to participate in this highly visible competition.
The next IFEC competition will be held in Taiwan in July 2016. Another ECE team will be formed to compete in IFEC 2016.