Energy Queensland has selected 100 of Queensland’s most outstanding university students for Australia’s largest engineering scholarship program.

The Future of Energy Engineering Scholarships, each worth $20,000 per year, have attracted a large, group of incredibly talented Queensland engineering students wanting to be part of the sector’s long-term future.

EQL Acting CEO Peter Scott said applications far exceeded expectations.

“This was always going to be a very attractive scholarship for Queensland based engineering students, but the response we received was outstanding,” Peter said.

“We received 527 applications from very high calibre students and many of them also had secondary areas of study from abroad range of disciplines.

“They come from a broad range of age groups and diverse cultural backgrounds and we’ve selected the standouts in their second, third and final years of study of electrical engineering for this inaugural scholarship offer.

“Our first cohort has 37 female, six First Nations students and one student who identifies as non-binary.

“It’s really interesting that some of them are also studying for a second degree in areas such as Aerospace, Mechatronics, Information Technology, Data Science and even Biomedical.”

“That’s exactly what Energy Queensland needs for our workforce to deliver the energy future our state needs,” Peter said.

Energy Queensland’s Chief Engineer Peter Price said the Ergon Energy and Energex network businesses and energy solutions business Yurika already had a highly skilled electrical engineering workforce, but we know we need more engineers who add bring different types of thinking and problem-solving skills.

“The energy sector is going through massive growth, no more so than in Queensland where the State Government has a Jobs and Energy Plan to transform its networks to deliver a renewable energy future – that’s why these scholarships are so important to our businesses and to the industry as a whole,” Peter said

The first 100 Future of Energy Engineering Scholarship holders include 28 final year engineering students who will enter Energy Queensland’s Graduate Program next year.

Half the scholarships will be available to students who are originally from regional Queensland and the other half to students from south-east Queensland.

Scholarship holders will also be offered employment opportunities in one of Energy Queensland’s energy solutions business Yurika or its distribution network businesses – Ergon Energy and Energex as they complete their degree.

“Many of them have already had time working alongside our engineering teams as part of our Vacation Program and through other types of work experience – they have seen the challenges and speed at which the electricity industry is changing with renewables, electric vehicles and storage,” Peter said.

“These new graduates, and the successful second and third-year students who also make up the inaugural cohort, will play a fundamental role in designing the infrastructure to support increased network capability as we work to deliver a net zero future.”

The breakdown of scholarship holders by university:

Central Queensland University – 5

Griffith University – 8

James Cook University 18

Queensland University of Technology – 30

University of Queensland 32

University of Southern Queensland – 5

University of Sunshine Coast 1

Gold Coast University -1