By Derek White
Wind energy has become big over the last few decades in Kansas, you don’t have to drive too far to find a wind turbine nestled away in the countryside. On March 10, the Colby Community College hosted this year’s Northwest Kansas KidWind Regional Challenge, with the top two teams advancing to the state tournament.
The challenge consisted of seventeen teams across three different divisions, with twelve moving on to the next level. Each team was subjected to four challenges, first was the knowledge quiz, where the team was exposed to a problem was required to work through it within a set time limit.
Then the students were sent to the Instant Challenge, where they were assigned to assemble an electric generator and test its generation ability by measuring AC voltage, and test its ability to light and LED.
In the judging room, each team had to give a presentation on their designs, with grades based on scope of content, the students understanding of the project, and ability to present.
The Performance Tunnel was the coolest part of the challenge, as teams brought pre-built wind turbines into a mobile wind tunnel to test its performance. The teams were placed by how much energy in joules their turbine was able to produce. They received two sessions to test out their designs, first in the morning then they were allowed to make modifications until the final testing in the afternoon.
Teams were put in stressful situations if their designed failed during their timed session, but it was a treat to see them working together when the stakes mattered most for their score. Last year’s state champion team from the high school division was from Oakley High School.
That team consisted of three girls Emma Mandeville, Kylee Hodges, and Zoe Myers, with two boys Maddox Hubert and Gage Eberle. This year the team split up as two more boys came aboard Carter Krier and Elliot Bloom to form the Mavericks, this year’s high school regional champion. The girls stayed together to form the Chippettes, and came in third place in the challenge.
For the grade school division, fourth and fifth graders were led by the Lightning Hawks from Grinnell Grade School with 85.67 points, the Wind Monsters from Logan County with 78 points, and in third was Wind Creek also from Logan County with 65 points.
At the middle school division, the Wind Whispers out of Oakley were the champions with 92.33 points, The Milky Way Wonder from Oakley took second place with 91.67 points, and Barbie Girls took third from Grinnell with 77.33 points.
In the high school division, the Mavericks from Oakley were the champions with 95.67 points, followed by the Wind Blazers from Wheatland High School with 84 points, and the Chippettes from Oakley took third with 69 points.
The event was only made possible from the support of Kansas Corporation Commission, and independent regulatory agency the oversees the state’s investor-owned utilities, oil and gas production, and commercial trucking to ensure public safety.
ENEL Green Power was also instrumental in the production of this challenge, they are a leading owner and operator of renewable energy plants in North America with projects in 14 U.S. states along with 18 wind, hydro, and solar plants in Mexico, and wind farms in Canada.
The top two teams from each division will be advancing to the Kansas state finals taking place April 5 at the Tony’s Pizza Event Center in Salina. The champions at each division are then invited to compete at the World KidWind Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona beginning May 18.
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