Students from across the U.S. and Mexico who have placed in their state and regional challenges will bring their handcrafted wind turbines to compete on a national level
More than 200 students making up 54 teams will strive to have the best designed wind turbine and the most knowledge about renewable energy at the 2022 National KidWind Challenge. Hosted by KidWind, an international leader in clean energy education, the hands-on engineering competition will take place in the Henry B. González Convention Center during the American Clean Power (ACP) CLEANPOWER 2022 Conference from May 16-19, 2022.
“We are excited to have teams from all over the country, as well as Mexico, join us this year to explore wind energy,” said Michael Arquin, founder of KidWind. “I’m especially looking forward to unveiling our new Floating Offshore Wind Challenge to the teams. Many people are convinced floating offshore wind energy is the future, so it’ll be fun to see the designs students come up with for their offshore turbines.”
How the Competition Works
The teams qualified for the National Challenge by placing at the top in competitions during regional KidWind Challenges. At the National KidWind Challenge, a panel of expert judges will determine the teams’ scores over the course of three days based on five categories:
- Turbine Performance Testing: Students will test their wind turbine’s performance in the KidWind wind tunnels and judges will calculate the energy output.
- Judge’s Meeting: Student will give a formal, 15-minute presentation to judges, and judges will ask questions about the turbines and the development process.
- Renewable Energy Quizbowl: Students will participate in a quizbowl testing their knowledge of energy, renewables, and power concepts.
- Floating Offshore Wind Challenge: New this year, students will construct a floating wind turbine that generates power in a simulated wave and wind environment.
- Hydropower and Solar Challenges: The National Challenge will also pilot newly developed hydropower and solar energy instant challenges.
Teams will be split in three grade-level divisions this year: the fourth-fifth grade division, sixth-eighth grade division, and the ninth-12th grade division. Teams with the highest scores in each division will be recognized for their achievements. The panel of judges will also give out awards for rookies, creative and efficient blades, innovation, and showing off their KidWind spirit.
The competition officially kicks off on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 9 a.m., with the bulk of the action taking place all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 9 a.m.
KidWind’s Impact
Since the first competition in 2009, the KidWind Challenge and its partners have successfully implemented events in 36 states, with roughly 50,000 students competing in 300 events across the country. The KidWind Challenge was made possible with the help of many volunteers and the generous contributions from national sponsors, including American Clean Power, EDP Renewables North America, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Orsted, Pattern Energy, and Vernier Software & Technology.
For more information about the KidWind challenge visit www.kidwind.org/challenge.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
