Floating Wind Challenge 🏆🌍

 Who

Groups of young engineers can participate in the challenge. Different options for entering the competition are:

• It could be integrated as part of a problem solving and design course at a university, where a group of students work on a specific topic (e.g. Danish Technical University has such group courses in 1st and 2nd year of engineering that run over one semester and are about 4 ECTS).
• Groups of university or high school students can sign up for the challenge as part of extra curricular activities. We advise to have supervision from e.g. a PhD student or a parent in the offshore wind industry to help guide the group in the competition.
• Young engineers at a company can build a floating structure. In this case, a financial contribution will be expected to enter the competition.

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 What 

The groups have to design and build a floating wind turbine structure. In the 2023 edition, the structure needs to support a Vevor 400W wind turbine and is tested during a concluding competition at a beach in Belgium or the Netherlands (preliminary location for site specific analysis: Scheveningen). The structure is evaluated using the following criteria:

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• Power generation efficiency (Efficiency losses caused by dynamic wind/wave interaction)
• Structural integrity (Support structure design)
• Foundation stability (FOU - Foundations/anchors and moorings)
• Practicality of construction (T&I - Transport and Installation)
• Cost efficiency at full scale (Materials & fabrication cost)

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A panel, consisting of industry and academic experts in offshore wind, evaluates the criteria at the competition event.

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 When 

The  second edition of the challenge runs in the academic year of 2022 to 2023. The indicative timeline for next year is:

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• 5 September 2022: start of the registration for the competition
• 31 December 2022: abstract deadline 1 page flyer containing: Sketch or 3D drawing of the floating concept Details of the participants (photo, name, university/company, year of study/position ..)​​ The flyer may be used to attract funding for travel/shipping and fabrication of the structures
• 31 January 2023: Abstract feedback from evaluation committee
• 28 April 2023: Report deadline (page limit TBC) Note: international groups must reserve sufficient time to ship their structures if they do not attend in person
• 12 May 2023: Competition event​​​

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 Where 

This is a global competition and groups of young engineers from across the world can participate in it. The concluding competition is held at Scheveningen Beach, The Netherlands.

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 Prize 

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There are two separate prizes of 1000€ (this may be increased) for the competition based on the performance of the structure in the field and the written report. Additional prizes may be added based on industry support for OffshoreWind4Kids.