North Kingstown Chamber Of Commerce Hosts Wind Turbine Challenge

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — The North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce's WindWinRI program is hosting Rhode Island's first regional High School Simulation Wind Turbine Competition with KidWind, an educational organization focused on teaching people about renewable energy.

In response to the pandemic, KidWind developed a virtual Wind Turbine Simulation Challenge that allows students to virtually build and compete. Using this program, students are able to learn about blade element theory and wind turbine aerodynamics and virtually construct and test wind turbines and farms.

“This is exciting- a great advance for KidWind! Simulation is such an integral part of industry today that training our - future engineers through this platform is a powerful means to acclimate them to the future," said Stephen Nolet, sponsor of the competition and Principal Engineer and Senior Director of Innovation and Technology, TPI Composites, Inc., in a statement.

Student teams from Shea High School in Pawtucket, Block Island High School, and Exeter West Greenwich High School are participating in the regional competition that opened March 20th and ends May 8th. The students from Shea High School and Block Island High School have been enrolled in the WindWinRI program for several years.

“WindWinRI is proud to host the KidWind Simulation Challenge for the State of Rhode Island as it’s a natural extension of our work in building a career pathway in the offshore wind industry," said Kristin Urbach, Executive Director of the NK Chamber of Commerce, in a statement. "The Challenge also includes placing turbines into the environment on the interactive wind map where students explore the challenges faced with cost vs. power output based on the budget model they receive."

The top two teams from the regional competition will qualify to compete in the National KidWind Challenge in Indianapolis, Minnesota in June, which will be co-located with the Collegiate Wind Competition and include opportunities for high school students to to meet with and learn from college teams.

More information about the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce’s High School Simulation Wind Turbine Competition can be found here. High schools interesting in participating in the challenge are asked to call 401-295-5566.