DOE Partners on Quantum Algorithm Competition to Strengthen Grid Resilience

WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) has partnered with Connected DMV, host of Quantum World Congress, on a new quantum algorithm competition as part of the 2026 Global Industry Challenge, an effort to accelerate innovation in critical technology areas.

The competition invites innovators to explore how emerging quantum and hybrid computing approaches could help address complex power grid planning challenges.

"Quantum computing has the potential to fundamentally improve how we plan, operate, and ensure the reliability of the nation's power system, but practical applications will require significant investment," said Anthony Pugliese, Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization. "Grid operators are facing increasingly complex, high-stakes decisions-from resource adequacy and interconnection to transmission expansion. By advancing quantum and hybrid algorithms through this challenge, DOE is helping support real-world grid planning -while supporting the Genesis Mission to advance next-generation computing."

"The Global Industry Challenge exists to move quantum computing from theory into practice," said George Thomas, President & CEO of Connected DMV. "Energy infrastructure is one of the most complex environments in the world, and it represents a powerful proving ground for emerging computational approaches."

As electricity demand grows and the U.S. power system integrates large loads such as data centers, planners must evaluate increasingly complex infrastructure decisions, including where to deploy energy storage systems and microgrids.

"With electricity demand accelerating due to AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and new large-scale industrial loads, grid planning is becoming dramatically more complex -requiring new computational approaches," said Rima Kasia Oueid, Senior Commercialization Executive at DOE's Office of Technology Commercialization. "This challenge pushes the frontier by asking whether quantum and hybrid algorithms can help planners evaluate thousands of infrastructure decisions faster and more effectively, unlocking new strategies for resilience, economic efficiency, and energy security to support the next generation of American energy infrastructure."

Through this collaboration, DOE will contribute technical expertise and evaluation support from across the Department's National Laboratories. DOE experts will review submitted algorithms and assess their potential for practical energy applications.

The challenge invites startups, technology companies, researchers, students, and independent developers seeking to demonstrate how quantum approaches could enhance grid planning capabilities.

For more information about the challenge, visit: https://www.pqic.org/challenge