The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory has issued a request for proposals for participation in the DOE's inaugural National Collegiate Wind Competition.
The competition is a forum for undergraduate college students of multiple disciplines to investigate innovative wind energy concepts; gain experience designing, building and testing a wind turbine to perform according to a customized market data-derived business plan; and increase their knowledge of wind industry barriers.
Successful teams will gain and then demonstrate knowledge of technology, finance, accounting, management and marketing.
The theme of the inaugural competition is to design and construct a lightweight, transportable wind turbine that can be used to power small electronic devices. A principal contest involves testing each team's prototype wind turbine in a wind tunnel under specific conditions. Each team's business plan and turbine will also be evaluated against other pre-weighted criteria.
The third stage of the competition will be a team-to-team debate relating to current wind market drivers and issues. Teams will be judged on the members' understanding of the issues posed to them, their communication of potential solutions and their ability to promote constructive dialogue.
More information is available here.
