Students from last year's Clean Energy Prize competition discuss their business ideas in this online video.

A team of students with a plan for a "clean energy" business will walk away $50,000 to help launch their business following an awards ceremony at the University of Michigan today.

The second annual Clean Energy Prize awards are for students at Michigan universities and colleges who have the top ideas in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy storage. The competition is hosted by U-M and DTE Energy.

Last year's winner was Algal Scientific Corp., a group of business and engineering student from U-M and Michigan State University, who earned $65,000. Their idea was to create a wastewater treatment system using algae that could be harvested to be converted into biofuels.

The semi-final and final rounds for the Clean Energy prize are planned for 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively, at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. The final Clean Energy Prize award ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the Blau Auditorium in U-M's Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

The awards are open to the public and will feature a keynote address by Gerry Anderson, president and chief operating officer of DTE Energy.

Teams with the winning ideas share $100,000 in prize money and $60,000 in in-kind services and the first place team receives the $50,000 cash prize for launching the business. The entries much come from students at a Michigan college or university and must propose some sort of solution or technology that involves clean energy.

Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.