The Pennsylvania State University Receives Top Honors at 2021 Virtual Collegiate Wind Competition

June 14, 2021

Following a year’s worth of work and two weeks of virtual presentations showcasing wind energy innovations from 13 competing teams, The Pennsylvania State University claimed first place overall in DOE’s 2021 Collegiate Wind Competition. A total of 173 students presented to a remote panel of judges June 2–10, and the competition wrapped up with a series of virtual events on June 11.

DOE’s Collegiate Wind Competition gives undergraduate students from a range of disciplines hands-on experience and industry connections—helping prepare them for jobs in the wind and renewable energy industries. Each year, the competition identifies a new challenge to address real-world wind energy industry needs. The 2021 challenge was to research, design, and build a wind turbine for deployment in highly uncertain times with a significant degree of unknown risks and delays. This challenge informed the teams’ work as they created their turbine designs and wind project plans and engaged with their local communities.

Read the DOE press release to see how other teams fared in the overall competition as well as in the Turbine Prototype, Project Development, and Connection Creation contests.