Wind Team Advances to Nationals
The University of Texas at Dallas student Wind Energy Club advanced to the final round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition with its new designs for a turbine and hypothetical offshore wind farm.
The 30-member team, known as Comet Wind, will present its small-scale wind turbine prototype at the American Clean Power Association’s CLEANPOWER Conference and Exhibition on May 6-9,2024, in Minneapolis. Comet Wind is one of 12 teams nationally, including three from Texas, to be selected to compete in the final round.
The competition requires students to design, analyze, fabricate and test a small-scale wind turbine prototype and demonstrate the feasibility of a hypothetical offshore wind farm in the U.S. Great Lakes, that contains analyses of wind conditions, transmission, construction, market conditions and economic policies. The team also will present its efforts in educational outreach, including activities with local Dallas-Fort Worth schools, as part of the Connection Creation competition element.
The UTD team includes students from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Naveen Jindal School of Management.
“I am incredibly proud of what our team has been able to accomplish this year. With the knowledge we have built up during the past two years, our design has become more robust and more efficient and helped us grow our technical skills in wind energy,” said Fernando Harmjanz, electrical engineering senior and Comet Wind co-captain. The team also advanced to the final round in 2023 and came in Codebreakers Place 4th. Comet Wind participated as a noncompeting team in 2022.
“This year, we have focused on improving the reliability of our system and learning about industry-grade design work through contacts with industry experience,” Harmjanz said. “We have been actively keeping these standards in mind when putting together our final design.”
Dr. Todd Griffith, professor of mechanical engineering and the team’s faculty advisor, said he is proud of the team’s hard work and accomplishments.
“I’m looking forward to returning with our Comet Wind team this year. This group has grown so much across the board in their efforts in educational outreach, wind farm project development and wind turbine design,” Griffith said.
Harmjanz said the team is thankful for support from Griffith, Dr. Matthew Gardner, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and the Wind Energy Center, also called UTD Wind.
A version of this article appeared in News Center.