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This year, an interdisciplinary team of听Senior Design students is the first at CU Boulder to enter the as a learn-along team. They are working hard to secure a spot for CU Boulder in the competition next year and are making impressive strides in听wind energy innovation and education. The team includes Abdoul Bah, Ioana Dumitru, David Imola, Austin Kim, Charlie McClung, James Rizkallah, Xander Sugarman and Emily Zuetell. Read about their experience below.听

Share about your Senior Design project. What problem does your project solve?

Our Senior Design project aims to design, develop听and inspire. The project is split听into three different competitions that all involve the wind industry:

1. The first part is designing a wind turbine prototype that will accomplish different tasks. Each task听tests a different characteristic of a wind turbine such as cut-in wind speed, power curve performance,听control of rated power and rotor speed, safety and durability. The goal of this project is to understand听the mechanical and electrical systems that go into designing a wind turbine.
2. The second part is developing a 100-megawatt听wind farm in the western region of South Dakota. This听competition aims to utilize modeling programs and conduct extensive research to determine a site with听optimal wind resources and favorable financial analysis.听
3. The final part is community outreach to spark community interest in wind energy. This includes听partnering with KidWind, a company that develops curriculums and lessons about renewable energy听to听teach k-12 students about the potential wind energy can provide. The community outreach competition听also involves networking with local wind energy representatives and establishing a presence on local听media.听

What is the听Collegiate Wind Competition?听

The United States Department of Energy (DOE)听anticipates about 20 to 30%听of听U.S.听energy supply will be听sourced from wind energy in the next 10听to 15 years, a considerable increase from today鈥檚 7 to 9%.听The DOE and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created the competition in听2014 to help fill in those roles once the push for wind energy initiates. The competition aims to attract听students of various disciplines to be invested in wind energy and be inspired to contribute innovative听solutions.听

Why was this project of interest to you?

Our team consists of mechanical and electrical engineers with various skillsets and emphases.听The team divided into specific team roles and a subteam based on previous experience and personal听goals. These personal goals range from sharpening technical skills of mechanical and electrical听subsystems to improving planning and communication skills. However, we all share a passion for听mitigating climate change and aim for a future that pushes for renewable energy.

What have you and your team accomplished that you are proud of?

We are proud that we are on time, if not听ahead of schedule despite the circumstances. Our听team is considered to be a small team since we consist of eight team members. We have a solid start in听all three parts of the competition and feel very confident about our progress. We were able to quickly听establish a great team dynamic and a strong work ethic which allowed us to have a detailed preliminary听design for the turbine, quality candidates to site our wind farm听and a plan for community outreach with听KidWind. Despite this being CU Boulder's听first year in the Collegiate Wind Competition, our team has been able to overcome obstacles听despite not having the previous experience听other teams had. Our goal is to spread the message of听resilience to inspire the community that collaboration and innovation is still possible during this new听online world.

We are also proud of our determination to represent CU Boulder. This year, we are a听learn-along team which means our team is not officially competing in the competition, but we are still听provided with the same resources and expectations as competing teams. Our team is using this freedom听to really challenge ourselves and pave the way for CU Boulder to be a recognized competing team in the near听future. We are challenging ourselves to create a more robust electrical system and exceeding the听number of turbine testing tasks that a first-year team is expected to complete. We are proud that our听team is seeing being a learn-along team as an advantage to create 鈥渙utside of the box鈥� designs instead听of a missed opportunity.

What have you learned from this project so far?

Each team member started this project with different levels of experience in wind energy.听However, we all gained a greater understanding of necessary technical and soft skills that can be directly听transferable to industry. NREL provided each team with extensive resources regarding modeling programs, networking听opportunities听and communication techniques. We were expected to use Continuum and System听Advisory Model (SAM) to extract wind resource data and financial models for certain site locations. NREL听has also provided documentation for regulations and community outreach techniques.听The Collegiate Wind Competition听encourages peer-to-peer learning and teaching, not only with team members听but with听other competing teams. Although every team is competing against each other, there was room for inter-team collaboration. As a matter of fact, part of the competition requirements is to research what teams听have done in the past and document how previous reports affected our current design. This taught our听team how to balance between innovation and uniqueness with feasible and operational. We were able听to sharpen our creativity and critical thinking skills which are skills that are difficult to obtain from a听classroom.

What are you most excited to share with others about this project?

We are excited to share with students and faculty members that there is now a more intimate听way to get involved with renewable energy. This competition welcomes those interested in wind energy听despite the level of previous knowledge. Our team is very excited to share our progress in our wind听energy journey. It is a big step for CU Boulder to enter this competition since it opens up an opportunity for听students to gain knowledge, experience听and resources within the renewable energy industry. Our team听is very open to mentors invested in the project and students interested in shadowing our progress.听