About track
As electricity demand grows and the U.S. power system integrates data centers and large industrial loads, grid planners must strategically determine where to deploy energy storage systems and microgrids to maximize resilience, reliability, and economic efficiency over multi-year planning horizons. These siting and sizing decisions must account for load variability, generation variability, transmission constraints, contingency requirements, and varying weather risks, requiring evaluation of thousands of potential infrastructure configurations across diverse operating conditions. Participants will investigate quantum formulations of siting decisions, develop mappings to QUBO or variational optimization frameworks, and benchmark hybrid quantum approaches against established classical planning solvers. The objective is to determine where quantum methods may improve combinatorial search efficiency, scenario exploration, solution robustness, or investment trade-off analysis for critical energy infrastructure.
Timeline
Start
Mar 2026 Wed, ET
End
Sep 2026 Sat, ET
Why this track exists?
The objective is to determine where quantum methods may improve combinatorial search efficiency, scenario exploration, solution robustness, or investment trade-off analysis for critical energy infrastructure.
Who is this track for?
No audience yet.
Prizes & Outcomes
No prizes yet.
How to get started
Submit your Phase 3 submissions via the Aqora Competition page for each of your chosen Challenge(s) due 11:59 PM (EST) on Sunday, July 26. Important: One submission is required per team and must match submission criteria or risk disqualification.