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    Five Schools Claim Honors in 2021 Collegiate Wind Competition

    Sept. 3, 2021
    Each year, the Collegiate Wind Competition integrates a new challenge into the contest that reflects real-world wind industry needs.
    Werner Slocum/NREL
    Participants from Collegiate Wind Competition 2019 present their research to the judges and their peers from other universities. Photo courtesy of Werner Slocum, NREL
    Participants from Collegiate Wind Competition 2019 present their research to the judges and their peers from other universities. Photo courtesy of Werner Slocum, NREL

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) joined universities and wind energy experts from across the country on June 11 to announce the winners of the Collegiate Wind Competition. Over the course of the academic year, 13 undergraduate teams designed, built, and tested model wind turbines, developed project plans, collaborated with industry experts, and engaged with their local communities – preparing them for careers in the growing wind and renewable energy workforce to support President Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    “Wind energy is an essential part of our fight against the climate crisis, and that means one thing for talented and driven young people like these students: jobs, jobs, jobs,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With their help, I have no doubt that we’ll propel the wind industry to sky-high heights and send a gust of growth from coast to coast that lifts every American community into a cleaner, healthier, more prosperous future.”

    Each year, the Collegiate Wind Competition integrates a new challenge into the contest that reflects real-world wind industry needs. Taking the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of supply chain disruptions into account, the 2021 challenge tasked teams with developing projects for deployment in highly uncertain times, with a significant degree of unknown risks and delays. This year’s competition also featured a new “Connection Creation Contest,” which challenged students to engage with industry professionals, their local communities, and local media outlets to broaden their understanding of the workforce and educate new audiences about the benefits of wind and renewable energy.

    The 2021 winners are:

    • Overall First Place: Pennsylvania State University
    • Overall Second Place: Johns Hopkins University
    • Overall Third Place: California Polytechnic State University
    • Turbine Prototype Contest: Kansas State University
    • Project Development Contest: Pennsylvania State University
    • Connection Creation Contest: Virginia Tech University

    The 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition is scheduled for May 16-19, 2022, at the American Clean Power Association’s CLEANPOWER 2022 Conference & Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas. 

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.