About The Project

The Department of Energy Wind Program is committed to developing a portfolio of innovative technologies for clean, domestic power generation to support an ever-growing industry. Wind resources for electric power generation help the nation secure renewable energy and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as well as other air pollutants. Increased use of the abundant wind resources will help support the clean energy economy and reduce environmental impacts of power generation.

As a response to the increased interest in renewable wind energy, the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) teamed up to create the Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC). This competition gives undergraduates the opportunity to design, build, and test a wind turbine against a set of requirements and compete against teams from other universities. The first CWC was held in 2014 and competitions are held each year. Northern Arizona University (NAU) has competed in the competition each year since, and has been invited to compete in the 2017 CWC..

Completion of this project will give the NAU CWC Team experience designing a small scale wind turbine and adhering to competition constraints.

About Team NAU

Project Information

Following is the original project description provided by the sponsor:

The U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition challenges undergraduate students to design a wind turbine based on market research, develop a business plan to market the product, build and test the turbine against set requirements, and demonstrate knowledge of siting constraints and location challenges for product installation. The objective of the Collegiate Wind Competition is to prepare students from multiple disciplines to enter the wind energy workforce.

For this year, the Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) will be an “off-year” event where the twelve CWC16 Universities will be travelling to the National Wind Technologies Center (NWTC) at the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, CO for testing in the DOE's wind tunnels. Teams are expected to iterate on the previous year’s wind turbine design or to come up with something new. The Department of Energy is requiring less deliverables for this off year emphasizing the goal of diving deeper into the design of individual turbine sub-components.

Final Design

Final Cad Image


Click on View Details for details on the final design (We don't want other teams stealing our ideas :p )

View Details

Contact

Jesus Bravo: jgb88@nau.edu
Melissa Hoover: mh969@nau.edu
Brent McFarlane: bdm88@nau.edu
Chase Donnell: chd32@nau.edu
Joshua Danny: jrd376@nau.edu