American-Made Challenges

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2025 Collegiate Wind Competition

Helping college students prepare for jobs in the wind and renewable energy workforce through real-world experiences.

Energy, Environment & Resources Science Technology

stage:

Enter

prize:

$280,000

Energy, Environment & Resources Science Technology

Summary

Timeline

Updates1

Forum

Teams454

Entries

Resources

FAQ

Overview

The 2025 Collegiate Wind Competition

NOTE: The 2025 competition cycle runs from March 2024 to May 2025. The 2024 competition cycle began in Spring 2023 and will conclude in May 2024. Please visit the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition HeroX site for information about the 2024 competition cycle.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office launched the Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) in 2014. The CWC helps multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students prepare for jobs in wind and renewable energy through the following activities:

The Turbine Prototype Contest & Turbine Testing Contest, in which teams design, build, and present a unique, wind-driven power system based on market research and test the wind turbine in an on-site wind tunnel.
The Project Development Contest, in which teams research wind resource data, transmission infrastructure, and environmental factors to create a site plan and financial analysis for a hypothetical wind farm.
The Connection Creation Contest, in which teams conduct outreach with the wind energy industry, their local communities, and local media outlets to raise wind energy awareness and promote their accomplishments.

Join the CWC mailing list to receive updates on this competition. Visit the CWC news page for updates, alumni success stories, and other CWC news. 

Guidelines

A team must comprise undergraduate students subject to the following guidelines:

Students may come from a mixture of 4-year colleges or universities in the United States and 2-year institutions, such as community colleges.
Students from international institutions are welcome to participate on a team but must partner and apply with a team of students from a domestic U.S. institution as the lead. International participants will not be eligible to receive cash prizes directly from DOE.
Phase 1 teams are not required to have a faculty advisor by the Phase 1 submission deadline; however, teams will need to engage a faculty advisor from a college or university in the United States to be eligible to compete in Phase 2.

Teams should strive to include a diverse range of academic disciplines, including but not limited to:

Engineering
Business
Marketing
Communications
Environmental and Public Policy
Social Sciences

Teams should also strive to include students from groups historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Explore the CWC 2025 Phase 1 Rules and Requirements to learn more.

Contact us directly at Collegiate.Wind@nrel.gov with any additional questions.

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Challenge Updates

The CWC Informational Webinar Recording is Now Live!

April 30, 2024, 4 p.m. PDT by NREL Challenges

You can now watch an informational webinar hosted by the CWC organizers to learn how you can participate in the annual competition. The webinar covers information about the competition structure, timeline, application process and more. You can also view the slides covered in the webinar. If you have any questions, be sure to ask them in the Challenge Forum!