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NAU Collegiate Wind Competition team

For the fifth year in a row, NAU has been awarded a team for the Collegiate Wind Competition. Undergraduate students from NAU’s College of Business and Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments will work together to design and build a small wind turbine and develop a business plan and deployment strategy for bringing it to market. This prestigious national event is hosted by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the students will travel to the competition co-hosted with the American Wind Energy Association annual WindPower conference in Chicago in May 2018.

2017-2018

2015-2016

In 2016, NAU undergraduate engineering, business, and policy students worked together to design and build an off-grid turbine, and develop business and deployment plans for the turbine and its target market. In May, our team traveled to New Orleans to compete against 11 other universities. The team proudly took home 4th overall.

Learn about our 2016 competition team.

2014-2015

In 2014-2015, NAU participated in a mini-competition organized just for universities that participated in 2014. The competition events took place at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), which is the US DOE’s premier laboratory test site for wind turbine components of all scales and technologies.

In a unique collaboration, NAU mechanical engineering students partnered with electrical engineering students at Kansas State University to design a turbine for testing at the NWTC competition in April 2015. The students took 5th place in the testing.

2013-2014

NAU was pleased to host a team for the inaugural year of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition. Our team consisted of undergraduate students from NAU’s Engineering, Business, and Environmental Sciences programs. They worked together to design, build, and test a wind turbine to perform according to their customized, market-data-derived business plan. The team faced off against 9 other university teams in May 2014 in Las Vegas, where the competition was held in conjunction with the AWEA Wind power 2014 Conference. The teams was judged by industry and policy experts on turbine design and performance, and their presentations on the business plan and wind energy market and policy issues.

This project provided students with the experience of collaborating with their peers from different fields and backgrounds around wind energy. This experience requires students to apply the skills gained in the classroom to real world situations, pushing them to advance their skill set and learn about other aspects of engineering or business beyond the classroom.

At the competition – Las Vegas 2014

NAU’s Collegiate Wind Competition Team competed at the American Wind Energy Association Conference from May 5th – 7th. The team took third place in the technical design review and second on market issues.

Final documents

Preparing for the competition

Engineering the turbine

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The undergraduate engineering students were challenged to design a micro wind turbine that is manageable and easy to assemble. They were required to design everything from the blades to the electrical components of this turbine. The turbine was judged on performance, operational safety, component durability and system reliability.

The most exciting aspect of this project, in my opinion, is to create a system that really works. The opportunity to make use of all the engineering skills I’ve learned over the last few years has been an exciting prospect, because it really gives a physicality to my major as a whole. — Charlie Burge, Mechanical Engineering Student

Planning for a profitable business

The undergraduate business students were challenged to develop and present a business plan for the product designed by the engineering students. They worked alongside the engineering students to ensure that the design was cost effective, and to plan the operations of a profitable wind energy company.

I’ve learned very valuable things about both alternative energy, and starting your own business. The most valuable thing that came out of this class for me was the importance of communication between two completely different sections of this business. Communication from both sides is essential for a business to run smoothly especially with the creation of a new product. — Lukas Loehr, Business Management Senior

Navigating market & policy issues

A subset of the team, including environmental science, political science, and engineering students were challenged to present on a market or policy issue critical to driving today’s wind energy industry. Judges evaluated their arguments and the depth, logic, and overall presentations.

I have already learned a significant amount about how the wind industry operates as a whole. I really enjoy investigating how policies affect every aspect of its development and success. Having the opportunity to dive into the topic of wind energy in the United States is very exciting, as is working alongside other students and professionals with similar goals and interests. — Candice Giffin, Political Science and Environmental Sciences Senior

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