Ural school students win gold and silver at the national round of the Play Energy-2017 international project

The Dream Plant project by students from Asbest Polytechnic College, dedicated to innovative waste recycling solutions, secured victory for the students in the senior age category at the national round of Enel's international educational project Play Energy-2017. As a reward for their victory, the students and their leader Natalya Karavaeva will be embarking on a trip to Italy.

The ninth season of Play Energy-2017 featured 455 works and brought together 3,000 schoolchildren and college students from 299 grades and 68 educational institutions in the regions where Enel Russia has power plants: Konakovskaya GRES, Nevinnomysskaya GRES, Sredneuralskaya GRES and Reftinskaya GRES.

The national jury, whose meeting was held at Enel Russia’s headquarters in Moscow, was to review the best works of winners of the regional round of the competition.

Projects from participants, represented by Reftinskaya GRES and Sredneuralskaya GRES, claimed the 1st and 2nd positions in both age categories. Another project by Ural students won a special nomination in the field of sustainability.

In the junior age category (grades 5-8), a project by Sredneuralskaya GRES and 6C and 7B grade students from vocational school No. 7, Berezovsky, was announced the winner. The project team was headed by physics teacher Marina Leonova. The students presented their working model and a video called Dream City. The Dream City is a smart city model that combines innovation, environmental protection, energy efficiency and economic sustainability. It integrates infrastructure, services and technologies where energyconservation, emission reduction and waste management are a part of people’s everyday comfortable life.

A project nominated by Reftinskaya GRES for the competition won silver in the same age category (grade 5-8). They were students of 7-8 grades from School No. 15 of Reftinskiy urban district, led by Elena Valeryevna Grashchenkova and Tatiana Yuryevna Antonova. The students presented their working model and a video titled Knowledge is Power. In the video, they talked about innovative projects related to energy security and energy efficiency in modern school classrooms.

In the junior age category, the bronze prize went to students of grade 7-8 from Secondary General School No. 9, Konakovo. They presented a project called Solar Bus Stop. The authors gave a detailed description of the problem of lighting in suburban and rural bus stops, especially at night. They proposed building a bus stop that can store enough energy from sun during the day with the use of lens batteries and then use the energy for lighting in the night.

In the senior age category (grade 9-11), a project from Reftinskaya GRES by students of Asbest Polytechnic College was announced the winner. The Dream Plant involves waste sorting and recycling, and production of finished products from recycled products: products from paper, metal, plastic and rubber. The process flow diagram of the plant meets the relevant environmental requirements: the machines are equipped with modern filters and are powered from renewable energy sources. In addition to production of finished products, the Dream Plant cooperates with modern artists who are provided with source material for creation of art objects.

The "Don’t Be Blind to Someone Else's Problem" project, presented by Sredneuralskaya GRES, took the second position in the senior age category. Authors of the work were students from schools No. 107 and 200 in Yekaterinburg and school No. 1 in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Together with their leader, chemistry teacher Irina Matveeva, they developed a working model of a musical gauge display for visually challenged people to measure the level of liquid in a glass or cup, which eliminates the tactile method of checking.

The Third prize went to a work by Sergey Slutskiy, a student from Nevinnomyssk Energy College, who presented a project called Energy of Life. The author proposed a method for combating air pollution control – the use of bioelectrical plants that can generate electric current and recycle domestic waste.

For the second year in a row, a special nomination in the field of sustainability was introduced in the competition, which includes projects that, in addition to technological and environmental ideas, have a social context, embracing the ideas of welfare and social justice.

In the junior age category, the Clean Planet project by students from 8th grade of School No.12 in Nevinnomyssk was recognized as well; the main purpose of the project is to draw people's attention to the burning issue through creativity: what man is doing with our planet and to call man to stop and think before it's too late.

Winners in the sustainability nomination in the senior age category (grade 9-11) were students of grades 9d, 10c and 11c from School No.15 in Pervouralsk urban district. Together with their leader, physics teacher Natalya Rybachuk, the students made a presentation of the working model and a video titled LED Flannelgraph Tablet. The students designed a game tablet with the use of light effects to explain the fundamentals of safe behavior to children in an understandable way. The design was tested during classes with children at a nursery school.

Below are the names and projects of all the winners of the national round of Play Energy-2017:

Junior age category, grade 5-8
1st place	Sredneuralskaya GRES, Dream City (Vocational School No. 7, Berezovsky)
2nd place	Reftinskaya GRES, Knowledge is Power (School No. 15, Reftinskiy Urban District
3rd place	Konakovskaya GRES, Solar Bus Stop (School No. 9, Konakovo)
Senior age category, grade 9-11
1st place	Reftinskaya GRES, Dream Plant (Polytechnic College, Asbest)
2nd place	Sredneuralskaya GRES, Don’t Be Blind to Someone Else's Problem (School No. 107 and No. 200 Yekaterinburg, School No. 1 Verkhnyaya Pyshma)
3rd place	Nevinnomysskaya GRES, " Energy is Life" (Nevinnomyssk Energy College, Nevinnomyssk)
Special nominations
NGRES	Grade 5-8: Clean Planet (School No. 12, Nevinnomyssk)
SUGRES	Grade 9-11: LED Flannelgraph Tablet (School No. 15, Pervouralsk)

Over the nine years that Play Energy has existed in Russia, projects presented by Reftinskaya GRES have been four-time winners of the national round of the competition. The authors had the opportunity to visit Italy and attend the international award ceremony. They were called up on the same stage with their peers from other countries, where Enel is operating.

Let’s recall that in the Play Energy-2017 season, the participants focused on innovative energy, defined by five key words: Efficiency, Cooperation, Innovation, Technology and Availability.

The students were supported by power engineers themselves to unleash their potential and learn something new during open classes, excursions to power plants, and discussions of didactic materials provided to the school students. According to the rules of the competition, the winners were determined in two age categories: grade 5-8 and grade 9-11.

It should be noted that in 2015, the Play Energy project was honored with a first degree diploma from the National Competition of Youth Inventions and Educational Initiatives in the field of energy in the nomination "Best Practices of Russian Companies and fuel & energy Organizations in the Development and Implementation of Educational, Vocational and Motivation Projects for Schoolchildren, College Students and Young Specialists (under the age of 35 years)" as part of the Youth Day of the IV International Forum ENES 2015.