Help Comet Wind win the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition

The Wind Energy Club is excited to present Comet Wind, the UT Dallas team participating in the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC). The CWC is a year-long national competition sponsored by the DOE and organized by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where a final 12 teams are selected to represent U.S. universities and colleges at the 2024 American Clean Power Conference, where we will present our work to experts from the wind energy industry and government research. 

Comet Wind started in 2021 as a four-person team, where we participated in the 2022 CWC as a learn along team. Over the past two years, we have grown to over 60 total members and last year’s members placed 4th overall in the 2023 Collegiate Wind Competition.

Our competition team aims to introduce UTD students to the wind and renewable energy industries and provide a good understanding of the different engineering, financial and outreach goals that the wind energy industry is aiming to achieve. The competition provides an opportunity for students to build the technical and soft skills needed to make a significant impact in the clean energy industry, with a focus on high-quality designs and deliverables. In addition to this, students get opportunities to connect with industry leaders and engineers and to form lasting connections with research faculty at UTD and other research institutions. 

The competition consists of three sub contests, including Turbine Design/Testing, Project Development and Connection Creation. Turbine Design provides students with hands-on design and optimization experience through the mechanical and electrical design and construction of a small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine. This includes the aerodynamic analysis and design of high-performance blades, the design and construction of complex power and wind turbine control electronics, as well as the design of an underwater steel foundation, which stabilizes the turbine.

Connection creation focuses on education and outreach, including going to local community areas such as schools and libraries and sharing information about wind energy and the renewable energy industry. Through our connection creation team, we are hoping to reach out to the next generation of renewable energy advocates and show them the opportunities found within this field. 

Project Development focuses on giving our members an understanding of the different tasks required to design, build and manage a large-scale energy infrastructure project. This year the team is investigating the finances and performing the siting analysis of a theoretical offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes, which they will be presenting in front of a panel of industry professionals, covering the research and analysis needed to propose a project of this scale. 

The funds raised through ImpactUTD will be used to help cover the costs of transportation and housing during the competition week at the American Clean Power Conference in Minneapolis this May. We are planning to transport the competition team, consisting of 20 members, using three vans. Your donation would cover the cost of renting vehicles and gas to make the 36-hour round trip to Minneapolis as well as transport during the event dates. An additional transport expense includes the purchasing of specialized transportation boxes to ensure our turbine is not damaged during the trip. 

In order to present our work in the best way possible, we must have the necessary qualified members who are subject matter experts discuss and present their work to the judges. As we have had a history of high quality submissions, having achieved 4th place nationally as a first-time finalist team last year, we have full confidence in our ability to surpass our previous achievements. If we go beyond our fundraising goal, your support will also go to the cost of the construction and prototyping of our wind turbine. As we focus on improving on previous designs, the complexity and cost of our system grows with every iteration. Additional support will also be used to increase the impact of our community outreach events, including greater collaboration with local school systems. Through your donation, you will be helping the next generation of renewable energy engineers to make lasting connections in the wind energy industry in a professional and academic environment. Comet Wind truly appreciates your support. Thank You! 

Do you want to learn more about our competition team? Follow our social media links below! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utd-wec 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comet.wind/ 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@comet.wind 

To join our team, join our discord and use the reaction roles to join the different subgroups: https://discord.com/invite/dDJwGA6bDD