In a new era of social distancing, the 2020 Collegiate Wind Competition was held via webinar on May 20, June 2, June 3, and June 17, 2020. The 12 collegiate teams replaced their poster presentations with digital slides, shared their computer screens with the judges, and presented their turbine designs and project development plans from their homes around the country.
The 2020 competition challenged teams to research, design, and build a turbine for deployment in the high wind environment of eastern Colorado. Specifically, teams were required to create:
- An effective mechanical, electrical, and aerodynamic wind turbine and load digital-only design that is safe and reliable for testing in an on-site wind tunnel
- A site plan and cost of energy analysis for a 100-MW wind farm in eastern Colorado.
After four days of virtual presentations, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the winners of the 2020 competition. California State University Maritime Academy won the Turbine Digital Design contest, and James Madison University won the Project Development contest.