By Trish Svoboda

Kansas State University’s Wildcat Wind Power team secured third place at the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition, organized by the U.S. Department of Energy and held in Minneapolis in May.

Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, the K-State team focused on designing, building, and testing their model wind turbines. They then competed against 11 other schools by presenting and testing their models in a wind tunnel at the event. The K-State team earned a total score of 1,042.3, finishing third behind Cal Maritime Academy with 1,083.1 and the University of Colorado with 1,055.7. Wildcat Wind Power entered the competition as the two-time defending champions.

The competition required designing a model turbine that could produce maximum power within a given wind speed while ensuring safe operation up to 21 meters per second. It also included planning a theoretical wind farm in the Great Lakes region that incorporated various forms of energy management. In addition, teams were scored on their community outreach efforts, such as hosting high school programs on the K-State campus to teach the benefits of wind energy. K-State finished second in the turbine testing category and third for their design.