2022 U. S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition

Special Notice: 2022 U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition

For higher education community interested in designing solutions for our clean energy future, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announces an upcoming Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking motivated teams of undergraduate students to participate in the 2022 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind Energy Technology Office’s Collegiate Wind Competition. The Competition is designed to be a forum for undergraduate college students from multiple disciplines  to design a wind turbine, build and test the system against set requirements, and participate in a siting and project development contest.

See details on the 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition below and photos from previous events.

• The Collegiate Wind Competition brings together students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as business, marketing, communications, policy, and social science fields to engage the future energy workforce in a broad range of wind energy experiences.
• The Competition is open to undergraduate students from institutions of higher education. Teams shall be comprised of undergraduate students from a single 4-year college or university or undergraduate students from a 4-year college or university together with students from a 2-year institution, such as a community college.

During the multi-day competition to take place in spring 2022 at the American Wind Energy Association's CLEANPOWER Conference, each team will:

• Test their team’s turbine in an on-site wind tunnel
• Present their turbine design, and siting and project development plans to panels of experts
• Participate in on-site project development contest.

Potential applicants are encouraged to review information from past competitions for previous examples and additional context.

The Department will post the RFP on the Beta SAM website in September 2020 and will expect completed proposals approximately 10 to 12 weeks following the RFP release. All details will be released in the RFP along with criteria used to select successful proposals. Academic institutions are encouraged to start identifying interested faculty advisors, student team members, and potential mentors and sponsors.

An informational webinar will be held on September 30, 2020 (time and link will be included alongside the RFP once posted on the Beta SAM website).