Penn State Wind Energy Club
Team Name:
Penn State Wind Energy Club
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
Why this Competition?
The U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) provides an ideal opportunity for members of the Penn State Wind Energy Club to gain the engineering, finance, and project development knowledge that is crucial for success in the wind industry.
Project Description
For the 2020 competition, the Penn State Wind Energy Club will complete a site plan and cost analysis for a 100-MW wind farm in Eastern Colorado.
Game Plan
To accommodate new challenges presented by the 2020 CWC, the team made small improvements to the scale turbine that has been used by Penn State in past CWCs. These included rebuilding and simplifying the turbine’s electrical systems, making structural modifications to the turbine’s generator, and thoroughly analyzing the turbine’s rotor blade strength through coding, computer-aided design, and experimentation. The team is using modeling software to execute their financial and site analysis.
Penn State Wind Energy Club
Team Strengths
The greatest strengths of the Penn State Wind Energy Club are its returning members, who come to this year’s CWC armed with previous competition experience, and the team’s mature, competition-tested turbine design.
Team Hurdles
Many members of this year’s team are underclassmen. However, what they may lack in competition experience, they make up for in potential and the support of upperclassmen and advisors.
Competition Objectives
The team’s objectives are to meet the new challenges posed in this year’s competition. The team will develop a site plan and cost analysis of a 100-MW wind farm in Eastern Colorado and incorporate the new technical challenges for the prototype turbine, which include dynamometer testing, runaway, rotor blade strength, and power quality.
Follow Us
Website: https://wind.psu.edu/wind-energy-club
Twitter: @RemoteWindPSU
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PSUWindEnergyClub/
This content was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy by the team.